Listener questions and recommendations from the boys will follow in tomorrow's bonusode!

If you want to hear the episode on Wednesdays and the listener questions bonusode each week, support us at www.Patreon.com/talkmedia

To receive the show as it happens and to hear our extended listener questions bonus that publishes every Thursday, join us on www.patreon.com/talkmedia

This totally independent podcast relies on our patreon supporters.

By joining patreon, you can also submit questions every week.

Thank you for your continued support and look out for more interviews in the coming weeks with key figures from the media.

The guys also answer a listeners’ question and offer up their recommendations (links below!)

Stuart Cosgrove recommends…

HH: Helenio Herrera - Football’s Original Master of the Dark Arts by Richard Fitzpatrick - https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/hh-9781399425087/

Eamonn O’Neill recommends…

Small prophets (BBC) - https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m002q765/small-prophets

The Great Santini, starring the late Robert Duvall - https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/great_santini

Unfortunately Laura is suffering with a really bad cold and had to record from home, which shows a little in the quality of the audio but her contributions are wonderful as always and I'm sure that all of our listeners will take a lot from the show.

Stuart and Laura pick over the fallout from that front page of The National and discuss what's next for Anas Sarwar, as well as answering questions from our patrons in the main show.

For our Patreon supporters, look out tomorrow for our extended Listeners' Questions edition! Support us on Patreon

This is the big story of the week, for obvious reasons, but the guys also touched on the mass layoffs at The Washington Post and Jeff Bezos' role in that.

Alex MacDonald asked a great question about Reform's latest tactics which Eamonn covered off about halfway through the show too - we hope it answered your question on Farage's next steps Alex!

For our Patreon supporters, look out tomorrow for our extended Listeners' Questions edition! Support us on Patreon

In conversation with broadcaster Stuart Cosgrove, the First Minister chats about his media tastes, his takes on his portrayal by the media, and Stuart even manages to get some fresh insight into some stories that he was recently a major part of.

He also shares his thoughts on Nigel Farage and the rise of Reform UK in Scotland.

Support Talk Media on Patreon for great bonus content and to have your questions answered on the show by Stuart and his guests: patreon.com/talkmedia

If you would like to hear the show on the day of recording and support the making of this podcast, go to www.patreon.com/talkmedia

Our pricing of 99p per episode helps us cover some of the costs of producing this independent look at the big stories hitting our media every week.

To hear the full hour long podcast, go to www.patreon.com/talkmedia

To hear the full episode with Listener questions and recommendations, go to www.patreon.com/talkmedia

To hear the full episode with Listener questions and recommendations, go to www.patreon.com/talkmedia

To hear the full episode with Listener questions and recommendations, go to www.patreon.com/talkmedia

To hear the full episode with Listener questions and recommendations, go to www.patreon.com/talkmedia

To hear the full Gaza Special with Listener questions and recommendations, go to www.patreon.com/talkmedia

To hear the full Gaza Special with Listener questions and recommendations, go to www.patreon.com/talkmedia

To hear the full Gaza Special with Listener questions and recommendations, go to www.patreon.com/talkmedia

To hear the full 3 topic podcast with listener questions and recommendations, go to www.patreon.com/talkmedia

To hear the full 3 topic podcast with listener questions and recommendations, go to www.patreon.com/talkmedia

To hear the full hour long podcast, go to www.patreon.com/talkmedia

To hear the full hour long podcast, go to www.patreon.com/talkmedia

To hear the full hour long podcast, go to www.patreon.com/talkmedia

To hear the full hour long podcast, go to www.patreon.com/talkmedia

To hear the full hour long podcast, go to www.patreon.com/talkmedia

To hear the full hour long podcast, go to www.patreon.com/talkmedia

To hear the full hour long podcast, go to www.patreon.com/talkmedia

To hear the full hour long podcast, go to www.patreon.com/talkmedia

https://www.patreon.com/posts/enoch-starmer-in-128938550?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

We are really grateful to David for bringing his real life experiences and insights to the podcast and listeners.

This podcast was recorded in advance of release.

With Trump taking up so much of the news space, this gives us a chance to do a deep dive into this horrific conflict that seems to have dropped down the news cycle.

A huge thanks to David for taking the time to come in and give us the benefit of his experience and expertise.

Part 2 Ukraine will be available next week.

We made the 6 part podcast Hunting The Whisky Bandits with BBC Disclosure. Check itnout here https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m0029kxz

Listener questions from Lorraine Kerr, Roger Hyam and Thomas Devlin.

Listener questions come from Alex MacDonald and Kevin Rinchey.

Apologies for not getting the shout out for questions earlier. If you want to submit a question for the boys, please fire us a question in by 2pm on a Wednesday in the comments areas or messaging areas of Patreon and we will do our best to get it discussed.

To hear the full episode, go to www.patreon.com/talkmedia

To hear the full episode, go to www.patreon.com/talkmedia

An extended listener questions this week featuring questions from Alex MacDonald, Bill White and Colin Bone.

We are delighted to welcome John Nicolson to the show today for the first time. Thanks to John for joining us remotely, hopefully next time we will have him in for some tea and biscuits!

Listener question this week is from John Nichol.

Recommendations:

Angela

Severance - Apple TV

Eamonn

The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson

John

The Plot Against America - Philip Roth

Brian and Maggie - The real interview CH4

Today's show was recorded before Israel announced their delay in releasing Palestinian prisoners.

Listen questions from Jim Hunter, James Ross and Linda.

Recommendations:

Eamonn

The Rose of Tibet - Lionel Davidson

David

War was my comfort zone, until I had to walk away - BBC Outlook

Here's a free listen to the first topic from this week's show. If you want to hear the other two topics, listener questions and recommendations, go to www.patreon.com/talkmedia and help us to continue our independent look at the stories hitting the news and the media behind them.

We're really happy to be back in the studio and delighted to have such a packed first episode.

We'll be back with our first show of 2025 on 8th January. Wishing all of you a peaceful and happy Christmas and New Year.

Recommendations:

Catriona

Swiped - CH4

Emma and Matt Willis challenge a group of Year 8 pupils at the Stanway School in Colchester to give up their smartphones completely for 21 days

Angela

Irresistible -BBC2

Why are ultra-processed foods so irresistible, and how they have come to dominate food culture? This documentary by medical doctor and academic Dr Chris van Tulleken features interviews with former food industry insiders who talk openly about the way in which popular foods have been designed to be irresistible.

Food companies go to extraordinary lengths to ensure their products connect with consumers - from using brain scans to assess the deliciousness of ice cream to carefully engineering the sound of a crunch. Ultra-processed foods are hyper-delicious and super-convenient, have long shelf lives and are extremely cheap. But a growing body of evidence is linking these products to our declining health.

David

A Quiet Evening: The Travels of Norman Lewis

Collected here, from a period of nearly five decades, are thirty-six of Norman Lewis’s best articles. In each, his writing crackles with poker-faced wit and stylistic brilliance. As a witness to his times – the good, the bad and the absurd – he was unmatched, and his instinct for important events, and moments, was infallible. His range here includes Ibizan fishermen, an interview with Castro’s executioner, the genocide of the South American Indian tribes, a paean to Seville and his meeting with a tragic Ernest Hemingway. That meeting was ‘a shattering experience,’ Norman wrote to Ian Fleming who had commissioned him, ‘of the kind likely to sabotage ambition.’Fortunately it didn’t, and the articles assembled between these covers are compulsive, hilarious, tender and beautifully written, at times deeply upsetting, and always unforgettable.

The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World 

With a mind-boggling mastery of sources, Dalrymple weaves a thrilling tale of India’s cultural hegemony, not forgetting its invention of mathematics and related disciplines still in use today - Andrew Lycett, Spectator

Eamonn

Comfort and Joy

Alan Bird (Bill Paterson, Outlander, Dad's Army) thinks he has life pretty well organised. Glasgow's top DJ, with a nice apartment, and the only red BMW Cabriolet north of Manchester, he has little to worry about until his kleptomaniac girlfriend Maddy ditches him just before Christmas.

Recommendations:

Eamonn

The Only Girl In the Orchestra - Netflix

This short documentary celebrates trailblazing double bassist Orin O'Brien, the first woman to become a full-time member of the New York Philharmonic.

Angela

Cover - BBC Sounds

The man tasked with finding and killing alleged IRA informers was an informer all along. Reporter Mark Horgan traces the story of the secret British Army Agent known as Stakeknife.

David

My Silent War - The Autobiography of a Spy - Kim Philby

In the annals of espionage, one name towers above all others: that of H. A. R. "Kim" Philby, the ringleader of the legendary Cambridge spies.

A member of the British establishment, Philby joined the Secret Intelligence Service in 1940, rose to the head of Soviet counterintelligence, and, as M16's liaison with the CIA and the FBI, betrayed every secret of Allied operations to the Russians, fatally compromising covert actions to roll back the Iron Curtain in the early years of the Cold War.

Written from Moscow in 1967, My Silent War shook the world and introduced a new archetype in fiction: the unrepentant spy. It inspired John Le Carre's Smiley novels and the later espionage novels of Graham Greene. Kim Philby was history's most successful spy. He was also an exceptional writer who gave us the great iconic story of the Cold War and revolutionized, in the process, the art of espionage writing.

Recommendations:

Eamonn

Me and Mon Ami - YouTube

Adventures On The French Riviera In a Citroën Ami. We may not have driving licences but that won’t stop us. Join us as we go up mountain and down dale in this sunny place for shady people. Along with our chihuahua Twiggy we’ll take you to amazing villages, fantastic local restaurants, and off the beaten track beauty spots in our tiny sans permis electric car. History, culture, property and a healthy dose of Northern humour. So why not subscribe and join us on our ever so slightly crazy journey?

Angela

Say Nothing - Disney+

FX’s series “Say Nothing” is a gripping story of murder and memory in Northern Ireland during The Troubles. The 9-episode series is based on the book by Patrick Radden Keefe. Spanning four decades, the series opens with the shocking disappearance of Jean McConville, a single mother of ten who was abducted from her home in 1972 and never seen alive again. Telling the story of various Irish Republican Army (IRA) members, Say Nothing explores the extremes some people will go to in the name of their beliefs, the way a deeply divided society can suddenly tip over into armed conflict, the long shadow of radical violence for all affected, and the emotional and psychological costs of a code of silence.

Paddy

Hot Ones - YouTube

The show with hot questions and even hotter wings. Watch Sean interview celebrities such as Gordon Ramsay, Tommy Chong, and DJ Khaled as they burn their tastebuds.

A deep dive into the fast moving situations in both the Middle East and Ukraine, discuss the threat of strikes at The Guardian and The Observer and we consider the latest drama to spark court dealings - this time it’s the Netflix and the Mendez Brothers.

Recommendations:

David

UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese calls David Lammy a 'genocide denier'

Trump team divided over Ukraine war end plan, debates demilitarized zone, NATO freeze

Semi-Invisible Man: The Life of Norman Lewis

Norman Lewis Books

Eamonn

Dominic Dunne Vanity Fair

The Mansions of Limbo by Dominick Dunne

Justice: Crimes, Trials and Punishment by Dominick Dunne

Another City, Not My Own by Dominick Dunne

Recommendations:

Catriona

Who Killed Emma - BBC Scotland

The naked body of a young woman is found in isolated woods. Police never catch her killer. Journalist Sam Poling's investigation takes her into a dark and unsettling world of sex, rape, lies and murder. And it leads her to confront the man she believes is the prime suspect.

From BBC Scotland, Who Killed Emma? Is an eight-part podcast that forensically takes apart the police investigation into Emma's murder and unravels the impact of a series of coincidences and missed opportunities until a clear suspect starts to emerge.

Angela

Silo - Apple Tv

Silo is the story of the last ten thousand people on earth, their mile-deep home protecting them from the toxic and deadly world outside. However, no one knows when or why the silo was built and those who try to find out face fatal consequences. Ferguson stars as Juliette, an engineer who seeks answers about a loved one’s murder and tumbles onto a mystery that goes far deeper than she could have ever imagined, leading her to discover that if the lies don’t kill you, the truth will. In addition to Ferguson, Silo season two stars new addition Steve Zahn, alongside returning stars Tim Robbins, Common, Harriet Walter, Chinaza Uche, Avi Nash, Alexandria Riley, Shane McRae, Remmie Milner, Clare Perkins, Billy Postlethwaite, Rick Gomez, Caitlin Zoz, Tanya Moodie and Iain Glen.

Eamonn

The Day of the Jackal - Book - Frederick Forsyth

The Day of the Jackal - Now tv - Original Film

The Day of The Jackal - Sky Tv Series

The Day of the Jackal is a brand new thriller based on the classic 1971 book by Frederick Forsyth about a lone wolf and his global scale threat.

The official synopsis, from Sky, reads:

“An unrivalled and highly elusive lone assassin, the Jackal, makes his living carrying out hits for the highest fee. But following his latest kill, he meets his match in a tenacious British intelligence officer who starts to track down the Jackal in a thrilling cat-and-mouse chase across Europe, leaving destruction in its wake.”

With a fresh twist on the source material, including the subsequent award-winning 1973 film from Universal Pictures, The Day of the Jackal promises a chase across the world as the hunter becomes the hunted.

Ruth

Cove and Kilcreggan Book Festival 2024

Amongst the popular authors this year are Liz Lochhead, Alex Gray, and a much lauded new kid on the block called Jen Stout, who has been recalling her adventures covering the conflict in Ukraine.

Tickets, both weekend and single event are available via the button below.

Breaking News !

We are pleased to announce our full list of Authors.

Saturday 23rd November

• Liz Lochhead
• Alex Gray
• Aasmah Mir
• Josie Long

Sunday 24th November

• Ken McNab
• Jen Stout
• Gavin Francis
• Peter Ross

More details on the authors can be found here

Tickets for the Individual Author Sessions are now available at the link below at £8 per session.

Weekend Passes at £55 each are still on sale and offer a £9 saving on individual tickets.

You will receive a ticket by email in the form of a PDF attachment which can be printed out or presented on your phone at the event. As soon as your payment is processed your name will be added to our list which will be available at the Cove Burgh Hall door. 

Cove Burgh Hall, Shore Road, Cove, G84 0LY.

Shetland - BBC

The dark side of one of the most beautiful places on earth. Uncovering secrets and lies from the past - detective drama starring Douglas Henshall, Ashley Jensen and Alison O'Donnell.

A Glasgow Girl: A memoir of growing up and finding your voice - Aasmah Mir

A Glasgow Girl is the coming of age story of Aasmah Mir's childhood growing up in 1970s Glasgow. From a vivacious child to a teenage loner, Aasmah candidly shares the highs and lows of growing up between two cultures - trying to fit in at school and retreating to the safe haven of a home inhabited by her precious but distant little brother and Helen, her family's Glaswegian guardian angel.

Intricately woven into this moving memoir is the story of Aasmah's mother, as we follow her own life as a young girl in 1950s Pakistan to 1960s Scotland and beyond. Both mother and daughter fight, are defeated and triumph in different battles in this sharp and moving story. A Glasgow Girl is a remarkable memoir about family, identity and finding yourself where you are.

Steeple Chasing: Around Britain by Church - Peter Ross

A thoroughly beguiling tour around the manifold riches of Britain's churches, Ross' immersive book ranges from unassuming parish to mighty cathedral and tells a defiantly human story of art, architecture, history and culture.

David:

Rebels and Renegades: Sheila Rock

Street Level Photoworks are pleased to present REBELS & RENEGADES, a two part exhibition featuring the outstanding work of Sheila Rock and Jill Furmanovsky, two pioneering women photographers who captured the zeitgeist of punk and the post-punk unfolding in music and style.

https://www.middleeasteye.net/ - Why Dutch support for Israel's football hooligans has roots in colonial racism

Eamonn

My Salinger Year - film

In New York City's late nineties, a young aspiring writer lands a day-job at J.D. Salinger's literary agency. While her eccentric and old-fashioned boss tasks her to process Salinger's voluminous fan mail, she struggles to find her own voice.

SALINGER- Documentary

Features interviews with 150 subjects - including Salinger's friends and colleagues who have never spoken on the record - as well as film footage, photographs, and other material never before seen.

Recommendations:

Eamonn

The Kominsky Method - Netflix

Acting coach Sandy Kominsky and best friend Norman Newlander keep each other laughing as they navigate the ups and downs of getting older.

The War Room - Amazon

This documentary follows President Clinton's campaign trail and focuses on his aides, James Carville and George Stephanopoulos.

Paddy

https://theonion.com/ - America's Finest News Source..

Ludwig - BBC iplayer

David

Gideon's Spies: The Inside Story of Israel's Legendary Secret Service The Mossad (Paperback)

Gordon Thomas has a grasp of history… this is one of the few books to have captured the true nature of the Israeli Government and the thorough process of the Israeli power elite. Ari Ben-Menashe, Former Adviser on Intelligence to the Israeli Government Created in 1951 to ensure an embattled Israel’ s future, the Mossad has been responsible for the most audacious and thrilling feats of espionage, counterterrorism and assassination ever ventured. Gideon’ s Spies has been created from closed-door interviews with Mossad agents, informants and spymasters, and drawing from classified documentsand top-secret sources, revealing previously untold truths about the Israeli intelligence agency.

Bang-up-to-date, this new paperback edition of this best-selling book includes startling new information on subjects ranging from Weapons of Mass Destruction, international terrorism, North Korea’ s bird-flu war games and ‘ ethnic bombs’ . The riveting text is supported by glossaries, appendices and shows a Mossad as it has historically been: brilliant, ruthless, flawed but ultimately fascinating. 

David Pratt: What I learned from the US election result - The National

Recommendations:

Alison

Why We're Polarized (Paperback) - Ezra Klein

America's political system isn't broken. The truth is scarier: it's working exactly as designed.

In Why We're Polarized, Ezra Klein reveals the structural and psychological forces behind America's deep political divisions, revealing how a system filled with rational, functional parts can combine into a dysfunctional whole.

Neither a polemic nor a lament, this book offers a clear framework for understanding everything from Trump's rise to the Democratic Party's leftward shift to the politicisation of everyday culture.

Klein shows how and why American politics polarised in the twentieth century, what that polarisation did to Americans' views of the world and one another, and how feedback loops between polarised political identities and polarised political institutions drive the system toward crisis. This revelatory book will change how you look at politics, and perhaps at yourself.

Catriona

The Londoner

The Bell - link to Catriona's article on Easdale Bros.

Eamonn

"What's the secret to still dancing at 106?"

Angela

The Wild Robt - film

From DreamWorks Animation comes a new adaptation of a literary sensation, Peter Brown's beloved, award-winning, #1 New York Times bestseller, The Wild Robot. The epic adventure follows the journey of a robot--ROZZUM unit 7134, "Roz" for short--that is shipwrecked on an uninhabited island and must learn to adapt to the harsh surroundings, gradually building relationships with the animals on the island and becoming the adoptive parent of an orphaned gosling.

David

Searching For Gerda Taro - film

SEARCHING FOR GERDA TARO celebrates the life and work of Taro — a charismatic Jewish refugee from Germany, an anti-fascist, and a trailblazing photographer whose work would be forgotten for decades.

In 1935, Taro (then going by her birth name, Gerta Pohorylle), met Endre Friedmann, a Jewish photographer from Hungary trying to make a name for himself in Paris. They fell in love and moved in together. The next year, they changed their names to Gerda Taro and Robert Capa. Capa taught Taro photography. Taro in turn helped sell his photos and build his reputation. Together, they went to Spain to report on the civil war from the front lines. She captured the heroism of Republican fighters and documented the world’s first deaths of civilians from aerial bombardment.

SEARCHING FOR GERDA TARO shares dozens of stunning archival images by and of Taro. We come to understand her life and work through conversations with curators, authors, and descendants of those who knew her. For decades, her legacy was wrapped up with Capa’s, many of her photos seemingly lost. But with the discovery of thousands of her negatives in the mid-1990s, Taro can finally enjoy the credit she deserves as a brilliant photographer in her own right.

Eamonn

Absolutely Fabulous: Inside Out - Doc

Celebrate one of Britain's most-loved comic creations as

Jennifer Saunders, Dame Joanna Lumley, Julia Sawalha and

Jane Horrocks reunite to share anecdotes and backstage

secrets.

Eamonn, joined by Catriona Stewart and David Pratt, have a frank discussion on the media coverage , a look at the horrors taking place in the Middle East and the frankly strange news of Labour pushing weight loss drugs in an attempt to cut back the welfare bill.

Recommendations:

Eamonn

The War Room- doc - Amazon Prime

This documentary follows President Clinton's campaign trail and focuses on his aides, James Carville and George Stephanopoulos.

Catriona

Break Up - : How Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon Went to War - Book

Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon's political partnership changed the face of Scotland, bringing the country to within 200,000 votes of independence and holding sway at Holyrood for more than a decade. So how and why has their thirty-year alliance irretrievably broken down?

Break-Up tells the inside story of how the once unbreakable unity of the Scottish National Party was ripped apart amid shocking claims of sexual assault. With unrivalled access to both camps and the women who made the allegations, and with rigorously fair-minded reporting, journalists David Clegg and Kieran Andrews go behind the headlines to uncover the truth about this extraordinary episode, in a piece of political history that reads like a thriller.

Now fully updated, this is a jaw-dropping tale of inappropriate behaviour in the highest reaches of power, of lies, distrust and alleged conspiracy, with profound implications not only for Salmond and Sturgeon themselves but for Scotland's governing party and the wider independence campaign.

David

Wild Thing - book

Paul Gauguin is chiefly known as the giant of post-Impressionist painting whose bold colours and compositions rocked the Western art world. It is less well known that he was a stockbroker in Paris and that after the 1882 financial crash he struggled to sustain his artistry, and worked as a tarpaulin salesman in Copenhagen, a canal digger in Panama City, and a journalist exposing the injustices of French colonial rule in Tahiti.

In Wild Thing, the award-winning biographer Sue Prideaux re-examines the adventurous and complicated life of the artist. She illuminates the people, places and ideas that shaped his vision: his privileged upbringing in Peru and rebellious youth in France; the galvanising energy of the Paris art scene; meeting Mette, the woman who he would marry; formative encounters with Vincent van Gogh and August Strindberg; and the ceaseless draw of French Polynesia.

Prideaux conjures Gauguin's visual exuberance, his creative epiphanies, his fierce words and his flaws with acuity and sensitivity. Drawing from a wealth of new material and access to the artist's family, this myth-busting work invites us to see Gauguin anew.

We have our fingers crossed that we can have Stuart back with us next week.

Recommendations:

Angela

Hounded: Women, Harms and the Gender Wars - Jenny Lindsay

The last decade has seen countless cases of women being fired, disciplined, protested or no-platformed for their views on sex and gender. Whether high-profile celebrities or previously unknown feminists, such women’s vocal non-belief in ‘gender identity’ as a universal human condition bears a high social cost. These ‘houndings’ are often presented starkly, clinically, in headlines or fleeting social media moments, stripped of the true cost of holding such beliefs.

But what is the reality behind the headlines and noise? What are the true consequences of holding – and living with - such seemingly now-heretical thoughts?

Hounded charts the often hidden and unspoken harms women face for prioritising and defending sex-based language and rights. Outlining the often-bewildering array of tactics used by opponents against such women, as well as the resilience required to refuse to be silenced, Lindsay presents a compelling argument for recognition of the individual and social harms that are being enacted under the auspices of ‘gender identity activism.’ 

This debut non-fiction book by award-winning poet and essayist Jenny Lindsay, whose own ‘hounding’ offers a unique perspective, is a solid, sane, witty but also compassionate account about the very human cost of this extraordinary cultural and political schism.

David

Lena Zavaroni: The Forgotten Child Star - BBC iplayer

Lena Zavaroni was a child superstar, barnstorming the charts, sharing the stage with Sinatra, and performing for the US president, all before her 11th birthday. But her light was dimmed too soon by a battle with anorexia. 

Told from the perspective of her 84-year-old father, Victor, this poignant story reflects on parental regret as he seeks peace with his daughter's untimely fate. 

Inside Barlinnie - BBC iplayer

This series explores the lives of current prisoners and staff as well as delving into a dark history of hangings, riots and escapes that have shaped the prison for over a century.

Eamonn

‘It’s all I think about’: Stanley Tucci on love, grief and pasta - Guardian

Screen favourite, cocktail maker, cancer survivor, sex symbol… Stanley Tucci is a man of many parts. The ‘Tooch’ discusses fame, his new book – and the perils of cooking for children

Recommendations:

Eamonn

In Vogue - the 90's Disney+

The '90s was the decade when high fashion walked off the runway and into mainstream culture. Featuring an A-list cast from the worlds of fashion, film and music, alongside Vogue’s Anna Wintour and Edward Enninful, this landmark series reveals the inside story of the 90’s most celebrated fashion and pop culture moments.

David

Algiers, Third World Capital:Freedom Fighters, Revolutionaries, Black Panthers - book

The life of an unexpected revolutionary with the Black Panthers in Algiers

Mokhtefi (née Klein), a Jewish American from Long Island, has had an exhilarating life. In the 1960s, she served as a press adviser to the National Liberation Front in postwar Algiers, before going to work with Eldridge Cleaver, who was wanted in the US for his role in a deadly shoot-out with Oakland police. Half a century later, as an eighty-nine-year-old painter living on the Upper West Side, Mokhtefi still seasons her prose with the argot of revolution.

Simon

The Hundred Years' War on Palestine

The twentieth century for Palestine and the Palestinians has been a century of denial: denial of statehood, denial of nationhood and denial of history. The Hundred Years War on Palestine is Rashid Khalidi's powerful response.

Drawing on his family archives, he reclaims the fundamental right of any people: to narrate their history on their own terms. Beginning in the final days of the Ottoman Empire, Khalidi reveals nascent Palestinian nationalism and the broad recognition by the early Zionists of the colonial nature of their project. These ideas and their echoes defend Nakba - the Palestinian term for the establishment of the state of Israel - the cession of the West Bank and Gaza to Jordan and Egypt, the Six Day War and the occupation.

Moving through these critical moments, Khalidi interweaves the voices of journalists, poets and resistance leaders with his own accounts as a child of a UN official and a resident of Beirut during the 1982 seige. The result is a profoundly moving account of a hundred-year-long war of occupation, dispossession and colonialisation.

https://www.channel4.com/news/

Recommendations:

Eamonn

The Seige - Book - Ben Macintyre

On April 30, 1980, six heavily armed gunmen burst into the Iranian embassy on Princes Gate, overlooking Hyde Park in London. There they took 26 hostages, including embassy staff, visitors, and three British citizens.

A tense six-day siege ensued as millions gathered around screens across the country to witness the longest news flash in British television history, in which police negotiators and psychiatrists sought a bloodless end to the standoff, while the SAS – hitherto an organisation shrouded in secrecy – laid plans for a daring rescue mission: Operation Nimrod.

Drawing on unpublished source material, exclusive interviews with the SAS, and testimony from witnesses including hostages, negotiators, intelligence officers and the on-site psychiatrist, bestselling historian Ben Macintyre takes readers on a gripping journey from the years and weeks of build-up on both sides, to the minute-by-minute account of the siege and rescue.

Recreating the dramatic conversations between negotiators and hostages, the cutting-edge intelligence work happening behind-the-scenes, and the media frenzy around this moment of international significance, The Siege is the remarkable story of what really happened on those fateful six days, and the first full account of a moment that forever changed the way the nation thought about the SAS – and itself.

Angela

Monsters: The Lyle and Erik Menendez Story:

This riveting true-crime drama probes the lives of the Menendez brothers, convicted of the brutal 1989 murders of their parents in Beverly Hills.

Catriona

Tell Me Everything - book - Elizabeth Strout

Tell Me Everything is a hopeful, healing novel about new friendships, old loves, and the very human desire to leave a mark on the world. It’s autumn in Maine, and the town lawyer Bob Burgess has become enmeshed in an unfolding murder investigation, defending a lonely, isolated man accused of killing his mother. He has also fallen into a deep and abiding friendship with the acclaimed writer, Lucy Barton, who lives down the road in a house by the sea with her ex-husband, William.

Together, Lucy and Bob go on walks and talk about their lives, their fears and regrets, and what might have been. Lucy, meanwhile, is finally introduced to the iconic Olive Kitteridge, now living in a retirement community on the edge of town. Together, they spend afternoons in Olive’s apartment, telling each other stories. Stories about people they have known – “unrecorded lives,” Olive calls them – reanimating them, and, in the process, imbuing their lives with meaning.

Brimming with empathy and pathos, Tell Me Everything is Elizabeth Strout operating at the height of her powers, illuminating the ways in which our relationships keep us afloat. As Lucy says, “Love comes in so many different forms, but it is always love."

Recommendations:

Angela

Darren McGarvey's trauma industrial complex

Royal Society of Edinburgh

Darren McGarvey – author of Poverty Safari and The Social Distance Between Us – began his new project, “The Trauma-Industrial Complex”, by delivering a Signature Lecture at the Royal Society of Edinburgh on Tuesday this week.

Youtube

David

Mozart - Rise of a Genuis

Child prodigy, flawed human, musical giant. Letters, manuscripts and performances reveal the making of a man who created some of the world’s most magnificent music.

Eamonn

Wise Guy David Chase and The Sopranos - Amazon Prime

In WISE GUY David Chase and The Sopranos, acclaimed filmmaker Alex Gibney delves deep into the psyche of renowned "Sopranos" creator and writer, David Chase, to illuminate his life and career while offering a unique window into his unparalleled work on the iconic program.

We took as many questions as we could get through and have kept submissions from Lorraine Kerr, Edward Docherty and Gill Blair for next week.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Paddy

Colin from Accounts - iplayer

Two single(ish) people, brought together by fate, a car accident... and an injured dog. Warm-hearted Aussie rom-com about a flawed, funny couple getting it all utterly wrong.

Eamonn

The Perfect Couple - Netflix

Amelia is about to marry into one of the wealthiest families on Nantucket, until a shocking death derails the wedding — and turns everyone into a suspect.

Recommendations:

Eamonn

From the Vine - Film - Amazon Prime

A downtrodden man experiences an ethical crisis and travels back to his hometown in rural Italy to recalibrate his moral compass. There he finds new purpose in reviving his grandfather's old vineyard, offering the small town of Acerenza a sustainable future, and reconnecting with his estranged family in the process.

Stuart

Sing Sing - Film - General Release

Based on the real-life arts rehabilitation programme founded at Sing Sing Correctional Facility, Greg Kwedar’s new film follows a troupe of incarcerated actors who work on a play as part of a theatre workshop at the prison.

Every six months, the men gather in a circle of chairs, often looking to Divine G (Colman Domingo) to help decide their next play. When he recruits a new member called Divine Eye, he gets more than he bargained for. The group’s dynamic begins to shift as Divine Eye suggests they do a comedy for the first time, prompting the men to throw out a jumble of wild ideas — from pirate ships to Roman gladiators to Old West gunfights. Flustered at first, Divine G quickly starts to see Divine Eye’s discomfort with the vulnerability required for what seems like a silly pursuit. While planning for his own clemency hearing, he tries to forge a connection with Eye, as the men collectively unpack the pain of their experience while undergoing the joy and escape of creativity.

Domingo gives one of the most memorable and affecting performances of his career, bolstered by a cast made up almost entirely of formerly incarcerated actors and alumni of the Rehabilitation Through the Arts programme. Their participation brings an authenticity to the group’s founding principle that human dignity must be a part of the justice system. Directed with a dynamism that matches the charm, mischief, and compassion of the men themselves, Sing Sing recognises the value of a place we can gather in which to discuss, debate, and create, wherever that may be. It’s an ode to art as a process, much the same as life, through which we can strive to better understand ourselves and each other.

A lively show today with our pal David who brings us up to date on Ukraine and Gaza, then it's off to the business of "propaganda".......

Enjoy!

Recommendations:

David

Tangier: City of the Dream (Paperback)

'A dream concealed in stone...sky supersonic, orgone blue, warm wind...Such beauty, but more than that, it's like the dream is breaking through.' William Burroughs No city in the world has quite the exotic allure of Tangier. From the 17th century, it has been a place on the edge, beyond the normal disciplines of government, a city of refuge and excitements where sex is cheap, drugs are plentiful and where the outcasts of the world can breathe easily. The golden years of Tangier began after World War I and barely survived World War II. Among those who sought sanctuary in or inspiration from this legendary city were Jack Kerouac, William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Paul and Jane Bowles, Ronnie Kray, the unhappy Woolworth heiress, Barbara Hutton, Tennessee Williams, Joe Orton, Cecil Beaton and Truman Capote. It is this 'last resort of the living dead, alive but not madly kicking' which Iain Finlayson explores in his witty, enthralling book.

Eamonn

Outlive: The Science and Art of Longevity (Hardback)

For all its successes, mainstream medicine has failed to make much progress against the diseases of ageing that kill most people: heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer's disease, and type 2 diabetes. Too often, it intervenes with treatments too late, prolonging lifespan at the expense of quality of life. Dr Peter Attia, the world's top longevity expert who is featured on Chris Hemsworth's National Geographic documentary LIMITLESS, believes we must replace this outdated framework with a personalised, proactive strategy for longevity.

This isn't 'biohacking,' it's science: a well-founded strategic approach to extending lifespan while improving our physical, cognitive and emotional health, making each decade better than the one before. With Outlive's practical advice and roadmap, you can plot a different path for your life, one that lets you outlive your genes to make each decade better than the one before.

Stuart

Monsters, Inc.

Lovable Sulley (John Goodman) and his wisecracking sidekick Mike Wazowski (Billy Crystal) are the top scare team at MONSTERS, INC., the scream-processing factory in Monstropolis. When a little girl named Boo wanders into their world, it's the monsters who are scared silly, and it's up to Sulley and Mike to keep her out of sight and get her back home.

Recommendations:

Stuart

Radio WHUR

Eamonn

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2KYZ1BritY

Alison

Listen to a cd - from top to bottom!

Recommendations:

Stuart

White Robes and Broken Badges

Infiltrating the KKK and Exposing the Evil Among Us

In this shocking memoir, a former FBI informant reveals what he learned from successfully infiltrating the Ku Klux Klan in the backwoods of the Sunshine State, uncovering details about the hate group’s structure and its modern far-right spinoffs which are operating to achieve the same goal: inciting a second civil war by whatever violent means necessary.

Catriona

Lady in the Lake Apple TV

When the disappearance of a young girl grips the city of Baltimore in 1966, the lives of two women converge on a fatal collision course.

Eamonn

BBC Four Who Killed Caravaggio? (Full Documentary) (2010)

When Caravaggio died in 1610, he was 39 years old, the most famous painter of his age and an exile from Rome after killing a man in a street fight. But his death has always been a mystery, with no body, no grave site, and conflicting stories of what happened. In 2001, art critic Andrew Graham- Dixon went in search of the true story of the extraordinary life and mysterious death of one of the greatest painters in western art, travelling from Rome to Naples to Malta and Sicily, meeting experts and scouring archives on the way. He uncovered the painter's criminal record, a trail of violent incident, sexual intrigue and conspiracy, and came face to face with some of the most profoundly spiritual paintings ever painted. Graham-Dixon has been researching and working on the story of the artist ever since. Caravaggio's art has never been more popular, and now he thinks he may have found some of the answers.

Again, we've tried to answer all your question in the topics themselves so forgive us for not reading out all your questions. We tried to address them in the discussions but of course will have missed a few opportunities.

Recommendations:

David

Jungle Novels - B Traven

B. Traven’s legendary Jungle Novels series, which begins with Government, details the oppression of the Mexican indigenous people and the subsequent uprising of the Mexican Revolution. This critically acclaimed but overlooked collection of six volumes is a classic that belongs on any historical fiction lover’s bookshelf and “constitute[s] one of the richest portraits of revolution in all literature”

Eamonn

Paris '44: The Shame and the Glory - Patrick Bishop

Paris ’44 tells the story of the occupation and the liberation, but it does not read like military history . . . The book resembles some epic thriller, with vividly evoked characters all somewhere on the spectrum between collaboration and resistance, shame and glory . . . Paris ’44 is a wonderful book: droll, moving, with a cinematic eye and not a boring line in it.

Stuart

Michael Johnson - 4 TIME OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST

This week's recommendations:

Angela

Women on Death Row.

Of the nearly 3000 inmates on death row in America, only 51 are women. This documentary series examines these women's stories. Part of True Crime on Channel 4.

Presumed Innocent

A horrific murder upends the Chicago Prosecuting Attorney's' office when one of its own is suspected of the crime.

David

KIM SENGUPTA

Fearless, intrepid, dogged – Kim Sengupta never gave up on a story

Independent’s Kim Sengupta Named Journalist of the Year 2016

Eamonn

Art Matters

Melvyn Bragg draws on a career spanning more than 60 years, making a rousing case for why the arts matter - exploring his early years and the stories of influential interviewees.

Nothing much to talk about this week.... aye right! Always good to have Angela and Paddy on the show - good insights.

At the end of the show we had lined up a huge listener question section but due to time constraints we had to edit it a bit.

Recommendations:

Angela

Dark Matter - Apple TV

Jason Dessen is abducted into an alternate version of his life; to get back to his true family, he embarks on a harrowing journey to save them from the most terrifying foe imaginable: himself; based on Blake Crouch's best-selling book.

Dark - Netflix

A missing child sets four families on a frantic hunt for answers as they unearth a mind-bending mystery that spans three generations.

Paddy

Last Week Tonight - HBO

Winner of the 2018, 2019 and 2020 Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety Talk Series, British comedian, actor and writer John Oliver delivers all the breaking news in his own inimitable style.

The North Face of Soho - Clive James - Book

From Fleet Street to the television, North Face of Soho is the fascinating and hilarious fourth volume of memoir from much-loved author, poet and broadcaster Clive James.

Eamonn

House Arrest - Alan Bennet - Book

A year in and out of lockdown as experienced by Alan Bennett.

The diary takes us from the filming of Talking Heads to thoughts on Boris Johnson, from his father's short-lived craze for family fishing trips, to stair lifts, junk shops of old, having a haircut, and encounters on the local park bench. A lyrical afterword describes the journey home to Yorkshire from King's Cross station via fish and chips on Quebec Street, past childhood landmarks of Leeds, through Coniston Cold, over the infant River Aire, and on.

At the end of the Show a question from Ian MacKinnon.

Recommendations:

Ruth

Homecoming: The Scottish Years of Mary, Queen of Scots - Rosemary Goring

In this book, Rosemary Goring tells the story of Mary’s Scottish years through the often dramatic and atmospheric locations and settings where the events that shaped her life took place and also examines the part Scotland, and its tumultuous court and culture, played in her downfall. Whether or not Mary Stuart emerges blameless or guilty, in this evocative retelling she can be seen for who she really was.

https://www.waterstones.com/book/from-our-own-fire/william-letford/9781800173439 - William Letford

This prose and poetry tour de force of storytelling has the narrative punch of a novel. It is a new departure for the poet, and for poetry itself. It takes the reader into the not-too-distant future: an artificial intelligence rules the world, and a working-class family use their wits to live off the land. William Letford blends prose and his inimitable poetry: sci-fi and hunter-gatherer are merged into a coherent story in the pages of a stonemason's journal.

Americast - BBC Sounds

Shona

Dancing for the Devil - Netflix

After TikTok dancers join a management company and its associated church, unsettling details about the founder and their dark realities come to light.

Catriona

AMERICA'S SWEETHEARTS: Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders - Netflix

Follow the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders from auditions to training camp and the NFL season as they chase their dreams and a coveted spot on the squad.

This week we have David Pratt joining us, so it is a great opportunity to get his specialist insights in to the continuing conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza.

We've missed having Stuart with us so to welcome back Stuart and to celebrate, we've let him talk about one of his bugbears in "Why so Trivial?"

At the end of the show a question from Paul Hampton regarding the Labour result.

Recommendations:

Stuart

An open letter to supporters from Adam Webb

David

The White Cities: Reports From France 1925-1939 - book - Joseph Roth

Eamonn

The Friday Afternoon Club: A Family Memoir - book - Griffin Dunne

Thanks to Eamonn, Angela and Catriona for managing to stay with us for that length of time.

Recommendations:

Angela

Sacked in the Morning

From transfer windows to formations, from man-management to getting the sack. Craig Levein and Amy Irons explore what it takes to survive as a football manager.

Catriona

The Bear

Carmy, a young fine-dining chef, comes home to Chicago to run his family sandwich shop. As he fights to transform the shop and himself, he works alongside a rough-around-the-edges crew that ultimately reveal themselves as his chosen family.

Eamonn

The Blaze of Obscurity: The TV Years - Unreliable Memoirs

In the 1980s, Clive James found his way into full-time television. In The Blaze of Obscurity, his fifth book of memoir, he delivers the inside story. A hilarious, thoughtful, warts and all account of a life in the public eye.

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8mufy4

To hear the full episode go HERE!

The boys are in great form today. Recorded just before the SNP manifesto.

At the end of the show a question from Roger Hyam.

Recommendations:

Stuart

Mercedes-Benz Museum

Porsche Museum

Eamonn

The Parisian Agency: Exclusive Properties - Netflix

It costs the same as a cup of coffee a month!

On the show:

🟡Humza Resigns with Catriona Stewart

💩Podcasts Are Shit - With Stephen Gethins

🇮🇪 Irish Right Wing Parties on the Rise with the Dynamic Duo

🇮🇱🇵🇸 ICC Send Arrest Warrant for Leaders with David Pratt

🤫Leadership, The Things They Keep Quiet with the Dynamic Duo

https://www.patreon.com/posts/election-debates-105633791?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

At the end of the show a question from ian Currie

Recommendations: 

Eamonn

Fiennes Return to the Wild - National Geographic

Sir Ranulph Fiennes, ‘the greatest living explorer’, and his cousin, actor Joseph Fiennes, revisit Ran’s 1971 expedition of Canada’s British Columbia.

Catriona

Night Train to Odesa by Jen Stout - BBC Radio 4

Eric - Netflix

A desperate father, alongside a tenacious cop, battles his own demons on the streets of 1980s New York as he searches for his missing nine-year-old son.

David

S.O.E.: An outline history of the special operations executive 1940 - 46 - book

SOE, the Special Operations Executive, was a small, tough British secret service, a dirty tricks department, set up in July 1940. Recruited from remarkably diverse callings, the men and women who were members of this most secret agency in the Second World War lived in great and constant danger. Their job was to support and stimulate resistance behind enemy lines; their credentials fortitude, courage, immense patience and a devotion to freedom.

The activity of the SOE was world-wide. Abyssinian tribesmen, French farmers, exiled Russian grandees, coolies, smugglers, printers, policemen, telephonists, tycoons, prostitutes, rubber workers, railwaymen, peasants from the Pyranees to the Balkans, even the regent of Siam - all had a part to play as saboteurs, informers, partisans or secret agents.

In this engrossing and illuminating study, the eminent Second World War historian, M.R.D. Foot, sheds light on the heroism of individual SOE agents across the world and provides us with the definitive account of the Executive's crucial wartime work.

Recommendations:

Stuart

Rebus BBC iplayer

Eamonn

Josh Taylor, Portrait of a Fighter - bbc iplayer

• Autism Awareness Month - 10th with Paddy Duffy
• UK Jets Defend Israel - 17th with David Pratt
• English Patriotism & Keir Starmer - 24th with Ruth Wishart
• Listener Question - 'BBC Understands' (10th with Paddy)

If you want to keep up to date with the podcast, go to www.patreon.com/talkmedia

Recommendations:

Stuart

The Richard Burton Diaries - Book Chris Williams (editor), Richard Burton (author)

Irresistibly magnetic on stage, mesmerizing in movies, seven times an Academy Award nominee, Richard Burton rose from humble beginnings in Wales to become Hollywood's most highly paid actor and one of England's most admired Shakespearean performers. His epic romance with Elizabeth Taylor, his legendary drinking and story-telling, his dazzling purchases (enormous diamonds, a jet, homes on several continents), and his enormous talent kept him constantly in the public eye. Yet the man behind the celebrity façade carried a surprising burden of insecurity and struggled with the peculiar challenges of a life lived largely in the spotlight. This volume publishes Burton's extensive personal diaries in their entirety for the first time. His writings encompass many years—from 1939, when he was still a teenager, to 1983, the year before his death—and they reveal him in his most private moments, pondering his triumphs and demons, his loves and his heartbreaks. The diary entries appear in their original sequence, with annotations to clarify people, places, books, and events Burton mentions. From these hand-written pages emerges a multi-dimensional man, no mere flashy celebrity. While Burton touched shoulders with shining lights—among them Olivia de Havilland, John Gielgud, Claire Bloom, Laurence Olivier, John Huston, Dylan Thomas, and Edward Albee—he also played the real-life roles of supportive family man, father, husband, and highly intelligent observer. His diaries offer a rare and fresh perspective on his own life and career, and on the glamorous decades of the mid-twentieth century.

Eamonn

Less: Stop Buying So Much Rubbish: How Having Fewer, Better Things Can Make Us Happier - Book Patrick Grant

We used to care a lot about our clothes. We didn’t have many but those we had were important to us. We’d cherish them, repair them and pass them on. And making them provided fulfilling work for millions of skilled people locally.

Today the average person has nearly five times as many clothes as they did just 50 years ago. Last year, 100 billion garments were produced worldwide, most made from oil, 30% of which were not even sold, and the equivalent of one bin lorry full of clothing is dumped in landfill or burned every single second. Our wardrobes are full to bursting with clothes we never wear so why do we keep buying more?

In this passionate and revealing book about loving clothes but despairing of a broken global system Patrick Grant considers the crisis of consumption and quality in fashion, and how we might make ourselves happier by rediscovering the joy of living with fewer, better-quality things.

David

Watch Koudelka: Shooting Holy Land - Documentary Josef Koudelka

Josef Koudelka is a fiercely independent artist. Branded an exile, stateless for many years after the end of the Prague Spring, photography is for him a powerful act that shows both humanity and its unsettling strangeness. His images are imbued with bohemian freedom and a dull, inhospitable promise. So when he was asked to go and photograph in Israel, the fear of being politically exploited, the fact of having to accept his designated young guide (to control him? he wondered)... mistrust almost won out. It was overcome by a mixture of rejection of "the wall" and attraction for this symbolic land. He simply insisted on paying for his own plane ticket, so as not to owe anything to anyone. What happened next, between him and his young guide Gilad Baram, is a truly romantic story. A friendship was born between the old photographer and the young filmmaker. Gilad Baram had the intelligence to turn these moments into a magnificent film, adopting the right distance and documenting the work of this demanding photographer.

At the end of the show a question from James Doonan.

Recommendations:

Stuart

Every Move You Make - Book - C. L. Taylor

Keep your friends close and your enemies closer…

Alexandra, Lucy, Bridget, River and Natalie. Five friends who wish they’d never met. Because the one thing they have in common is the worst thing in their lives: they are all being stalked.

When one of their group is murdered, days after their stalker is released from prison, time stands still for them all. They know their lives could end just as brutally at any moment – all it takes is for the people they fear the most to catch up with them.

When the group receive a threat that one of them will die in ten days’ time, the terror that stalks their daily lives becomes all-consuming. But they know they don’t want to be victims anymore – it’s time to turn the tables and finally get their revenge.

Because the only way to stop a stalker is to become one yourself…

 The multimillion bestseller returns with her most propulsive and addictive book yet. A chilling and terrifyingly real thriller that will keep you up all night – and looking over your shoulder for days to come…

Eamonn

Ian Fleming: The Complete Man - Book - Nicholas Shakespeare

A fresh portrait of the man behind James Bond, and his enduring impact, by an award-winning biographer with unprecedented access to the Fleming family papers.

Ian Fleming's greatest creation, James Bond, has had an enormous and ongoing impact on our culture. What Bond represents about ideas of masculinity, the British national psyche and global politics has shifted over time, as has the interpretation of the life of his author. But Fleming himself was more mysterious and subtle than anything he wrote.

Ian's childhood with his gifted brother Peter and his extraordinary mother set the pattern for his ambition to be 'the complete man', and he would strive for the means to achieve this 'completeness' all his life. Only a thriller writer for his last twelve years, his dramatic personal life and impressive career in Naval Intelligence put him at the heart of critical moments in world history, while also providing rich inspiration for his fiction.

Nicholas Shakespeare is one of the most gifted biographers working today. His talent for uncovering new material that casts fresh light on his subjects is fully evident in this masterful, definitive biography.

Recommendations:

Stuart

Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) - book - Sly Stone

One of the few indisputable geniuses of pop music, Sly Stone is a trailblazer who created a new kind of music, mixing Black and white, male and female, funk and rock; penned some of the most iconic anthems of the 1960s and 70s, from "Everyday People" to "Family Affair"; and electrified audiences with a persona and stage presence that set a lasting standard for pop culture performance. Yet he has also been a cautionary tale, known as much for how he dropped out of sight as for what put him in the spotlight in the first place. As much as people know the music, the man remains a mystery.

In Thank You, his much-anticipated memoir, he's finally ready to share his story - a story that many thought he'd never have the chance to tell. Written with Ben Greenman, who has written memoirs with George Clinton and Brian Wilson among others, Thank You will include a foreword by Questlove. The book was created in collaboration with Sly Stone's manager Arlene Hirschkowitz.

"For as long as I can remember folks have been asking me to tell my story," says Stone. "I wasn't ready. I had to be in a new frame of mind to become Sylvester Stewart again to tell the true story of Sly Stone. It's been a wild ride and hopefully my fans enjoy it too."

Stephen

Shogun - Drama - Disney+

An original adaptation of James Clavell’s novel, FX’s Shōgun is set in Japan in the year 1600 at the dawn of a century-defining civil war. Lord Yoshii Toranaga is fighting for his life as his enemies on the Council of Regents unite against him. When a mysterious European ship is found marooned in a nearby fishing village, its English pilot, John Blackthorne, comes bearing secrets that could help Toranaga tip the scales of power and devastate the formidable influence of Blackthorne’s own enemies — the Jesuit priests and Portuguese merchants. Toranaga’s and Blackthorne’s fates become inextricably tied to their translator, Toda Mariko, a mysterious Christian noblewoman and the last of a disgraced line. While serving her lord amidst this fraught political landscape, Mariko must reconcile her newfound companionship with Blackthorne, her commitment to the faith that saved her and her duty to her late father.

Ukraine Russia War Talk - podcast - Phillips P O'Brien

A regular series of podcasts, with guests, in which we discuss the Russo-Ukraine war and larger geopolitical questions.

Eamonn

Pictures from Ukraine - documentary - David Pratt BBC

Veteran photojournalist David Pratt travels to Ukraine after war breaks out. His goal: to bear witness to the biggest unfolding crisis in Europe since World War Two.

Stuart

NIGHT TRAIN TO ODESA - book - Jen Stout

At the end of the show a listener question from Ian Currie.

Recommendations:

Stuart:

Fragile Animals - book - Genevieve Jagger

When an ex-catholic woman develops a sexual relationship with a vampire, she is forced to confront the memories that haunt her religious past.

Struggling to deal with the familial trauma of her Catholic upbringing, hotel cleaner, Noelle, travels to the Isle of Bute. There, she meets a man who claims to be a vampire, and a relationship blooms between them based solely on confession. But as talk turns sacrilegious, and the weather outside grows colder, Noelle struggles to come to terms with her blasphemous sexuality. She becomes hounded by memories of her past: her mother’s affair with the local priest, and the part she played in ending it.

Catriona:

Night Train to Odesa - book - Jen Stout

When Russian tanks rolled into Ukraine, millions of lives changed in an instant. Millions of people were suddenly on the move. In this great flow of people was a reporter from Shetland. Jen Stout left Moscow abruptly, ending up on a border post in southeast Romania, from where she began to cover the human cost of Russian aggression. Her firsthand, vivid reporting as she travelled alone, hauling around body armour, brought the war to audiences back home, as she reported from front lines and cities across Ukraine. Stories from the night trains, birthday parties, military hospitals and bunkers: stories from the ground, from a writer with a deep sense of empathy, always seeking to understand the bigger picture, the big questions of identity, history, hopes and fears in this war in Europe.

Eamonn:

THE GHOST AND THE DARKNESS - film 

In 1896, a construction engineer from the British Army, J.H. Patterson (Kilmer) is sent to build a railway bridge across Uganda's Tsavo River for the British East African Railway. Soon after he arrives, workmen begin to disappear at night from their tents never to be seen alive again.

Recommendations:

Ruth

The Glasgow Girl (Paperback) - Aasmah Mir 

A Glasgow Girl is the coming of age story of Aasmah Mir's childhood growing up in 1970s Glasgow. From a vivacious child to a teenage loner, Aasmah candidly shares the highs and lows of growing up between two cultures - trying to fit in at school and retreating to the safe haven of a home inhabited by her precious but distant little brother and Helen, her family's Glaswegian guardian angel.

Intricately woven into this moving memoir is the story of Aasmah's mother, as we follow her own life as a young girl in 1950s Pakistan to 1960s Scotland and beyond. Both mother and daughter fight, are defeated and triumph in different battles in this sharp and moving story. A Glasgow Girl is a remarkable memoir about family, identity and finding yourself where you are.

This book was previously titled A Pebble in the Throat.

https://www.waterstones.com/book/a-glasgow-girl/aasmah-mir/9781472288554 

Blue Lights - series - BBC

For three police recruits in Belfast, the pressure is immense. Facing criminal gangs and divided communities, they don't know who to trust. The odds are, they won't all make it.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/p0f2cxpr/blue-lights 

Hollyrood Sources Podcast

The Holyrood Sources podcast analyses Scottish politics through the experiences of those who have lived and breathed it as Special Advisers to the Scottish Government, SNP and opposition parties. Join hosts Calum Macdonald, Geoff Aberdein (Chief of Staff to the First Minister, 2007-2014) and Andy Maciver (Former Head of Communications for the Scottish Conservatives). Their insight is second to none - they've been there. What does Scottish Politics look like after Nicola Sturgeon? Holyrood Sources bring you the insider information you need to navigate the next chapter.

https://holyroodsources.com/ 

Stuart

When a struggling comedian shows one act of kindness to a vulnerable woman, it sparks a suffocating obsession which threatens to wreck both their lives

https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81219887 

Eamonn

Living - film - netflix

Overwhelmed at work and lonely at home, a council bureaucrat's life takes a heartbreaking turn when a medical diagnosis tells him his time is short. Influenced by a local decadent and a vibrant woman, he continues to search for meaning until a simple revelation gives him a purpose to create a legacy for the next generation.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9051908/ 

Recommendations:

Stuart 

Riley - Netflix

Scott’s Tom Ripley is a grifter scraping by in early ’60s New York. He’s hired by a wealthy industrialist to travel to Italy to try to convince the man’s dilettante son, Dickie Greenleaf (Johnny Flynn), to return home. Accepting the job is Tom’s first step into a complex life of deceit, fraud, and murder.  

https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81678765  

Eamonn

imagine... Pet Shop Boys: Then and Now - BBC

Pet Shop Boys' Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe are the most successful duo in UK Music history. They have sold more than 50 million records, produced over 40 Top 40 singles, four UK number ones, performed in several world tours, and they are still making new music together.

Their songs have often commented on Britain and the world around them with wit, sensitivity and intelligence driving the stories they want to share through some of the most memorable synth-pop music ever created. For their tours they have worked with the most innovative theatre personnel to create original and thrilling performances. Now for the first time they have allowed backstage access as imagine… accompanies them on their global Dreamworld tour, filming rehearsals in London and backstage in Helsinki. Contributors include fellow musicians Brandon Flowers, Jake Shears, Olly Alexander, Marc Almond; music journalist Miranda Sawyer, and creative collaborators Stuart Price, James Ford, Es Devlin, Javier De Frutos, Tom Scutt and Mark Farrow.

https://www.bbc.com/mediacentre/proginfo/2024/16/imagine-pet-shop-boys 

David

The Biggest Prison on Earth: A History of Gaza and the Occupied Territories - Ilan Pappé 

A powerful, groundbreaking history of the Occupied Territories from one of Israel's most influential historians

From the author of the bestselling study of the 1948 War of Independence comes an incisive look at the Occupied Territories, picking up the story where The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine left off.

In this comprehensive exploration of one of the world’s most prolonged and tragic conflicts, Pappe uses recently declassified archival material to analyse the motivations and strategies of the generals and politicians – and the decision-making process itself – that laid the foundation of the occupation. From a survey of the legal and bureaucratic infrastructures that were put in place to control the population of over one million Palestinians, to the security mechanisms that vigorously enforced that control, Pappe paints a picture of what is to all intents and purposes the world’s largest ‘open prison’.

https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-biggest-prison-on-earth/ilan-pappe/9781786073419 

Strangers in the House - Raja Shehadeh 

Raja Shehadeh was born into a successful Palestinian family with a beautiful house overlooking the Mediterranean. When the state of Israel was formed in 1948 the family were driven out to the provincial town of Ramallah. There Shehadeh grew up in the shadow of his father, a leading civil rights lawyer. He vowed not to become involved in politics or law but inevitably did so and became an important activist himself.

In 1985 his father was stabbed to death. The Israeli police failed to investigate the murder properly and Shehadeh, by then a lawyer, set about solving the crime that destroyed his family. In Strangers in the House, Shehadeh recounts his troubled and complex relationship with his father and his experience of exile - of being a stranger in his own land. It is a remarkable memoir that combines the personal and political to devastating effect.

https://www.waterstones.com/book/strangers-in-the-house/raja-shehadeh/9781846682506 

At the end of the show a question from J.P. Gallacher

Recommendations:

Stuart:

Bobby Fischer Goes to War: The most famous chess match of all time - Dave Edmonds

Bobby Fischer Goes to War by David Edmonds and John Eidinow details the occasion when Bobby Fischer met Boris Spassky in one of the most thrilling and politically charged chess matches of all time.

For decades, the USSR had dominated world chess. Evidence, according to Moscow, of the superiority of the Soviet system. But in 1972 along came the American, Bobby Fischer: insolent, arrogant, abusive, vain, greedy, vulgar, bigoted, paranoid and obsessive - and apparently unstoppable.

Against him was Boris Spassky: complex, sensitive, the most un-Soviet of champions. As the authors reveal, when Spassky began to lose, the KGB decided to step in. . .

https://www.waterstones.com/book/bobby-fischer-goes-to-war/david-edmonds/john-eidinow/9780571214129 

Eamonn:

Scoop - Netflix

Inspired by real events, this fictional dramatization gives an insider account of how the women of Newsnight secured Prince Andrew's infamous interview.

https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81600418 

The Boys in the Boat - MGM

The Boys in the Boat is a sports drama based on the #1 New York Times bestselling non-fiction book written by Daniel James Brown. The film, directed by George Clooney, is about the 1936 University of Washington rowing team that competed for gold at the Summer Olympics in Berlin. This inspirational true story follows a group of underdogs at the height of the Great Depression as they are thrust into the spotlight and take on elite rivals from around the world.

https://www.mgm.com/movies/the-boys-in-the-boat 

Paddy:

Girls5eva - Netflix

A one-hit wonder '90s girl group attempts a comeback while hilariously navigating family and relationships — plus the joys and pains of middle age.

https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81630704 

Round Britain Quiz - Radio 4

Radio's most fiendish quiz, with cryptic questions drawing on unpredictable fields of knowledge

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007qxpr 

At the end of the show a listener question suggested by Brian Brussels.

Recommendations:

Shona

Invisible Child - Book - Andrea Elliot

Based on nearly a decade of reporting, Invisible Child follows eight dramatic years in the life of Dasani Coates, a child with an imagination as soaring as the skyscrapers near her Brooklyn homeless shelter. Born at the turn of a new century, Dasani is named for the bottled water that comes to symbolise Brooklyn's gentrification and the shared aspirations of a divided city. As Dasani moves with her family from shelter to shelter, this story traces the passage of Dasani's ancestors from slavery to the Great Migration north.

Dasani comes of age as New York City's homeless crisis is exploding. In the shadows of this new Gilded Age, Dasani leads her seven siblings through a thicket of problems: hunger, parental drug addiction, violence, housing instability, segregated schools and the constant monitoring of the child-protection system.

When, at age thirteen, Dasani enrolls at a boarding school in Pennsylvania, her loyalties are tested like never before. Ultimately, she faces an impossible question: What if leaving poverty means abandoning the family you love?

By turns heartbreaking and revelatory, provocative and inspiring, Invisible Child tells an astonishing story about the power of resilience, the importance of family and the cost of inequality.

https://www.waterstones.com/book/invisible-child/andrea-elliott/9781529156102

Catriona:

American Fiction - Film - Cord Jefferson

AMERICAN FICTION is Cord Jefferson's hilarious directorial debut, which confronts our culture’s obsession with reducing people to outrageous stereotypes. Jeffrey Wright stars as Monk, a frustrated novelist who’s fed up with the establishment profiting from “Black” entertainment that relies on tired and offensive tropes. To prove his point, Monk uses a pen name to write an outlandish “Black” book of his own, a book that propels him to the heart of hypocrisy and the madness he claims to disdain.

https://www.mgm.com/movies/american-fiction

Glasgow School of Art fire - Features - The Herald

Almost a decade has passed since the unique and world-renowned Mackintosh Building at Glasgow School of Art was badly damaged in a fire as final year students prepared for their degree show. 

Four years later, the category A-listed landmark - widely regarded as Charles Rennie Mackintosh's masterpiece - suffered a second, more significant fire as it was nearing the end of a £35 million restoration effort to repair the damage incurred during the 2014 fire.

https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/24199850.complete-timeline-glasgow-school-art-fires/

At the end a question from Jim Hunter.

Recommendations:

Chris Mullin Books:

Error of Judgement,

Didn’t You Used to be Chris Mullin,

A Very British Coup,

Secret State and

Walk on Part

and Many More…

https://www.waterstones.com/author/chris-mullin/77471

Film:

The Investigation Inside a Terrorist Bombing 1990 Martin Shaw John Hurt

www.youtube.com/watch?v=KAvevePIp4c Stuart:

Now Then: A Biography of Yorkshire by Rick Broadbent

Written from the perspective of an exiled Yorkshireman this bestselling, award-winning author returns to his native county to discover and reveal its soul.

We all know the tropes - Geoffrey Boycott incarnate, ferret-leggers and folk singers gambolling about Ilkley Moor without appropriate headgear - but why is Yorkshire God's Own County?

Exiled Yorkshireman Rick Broadbent sets out to find out whether Yorkshireness is something that can be summed up and whether it even matters in a shrinking world. Along the way he meets rock stars, ramblers and rhubarb growers as he searches for answers and a decent cup of tea.

Now Then is a biographical mosaic of a place that has been victimised and stereotyped since the days of William the Conqueror. Incorporating social history, memoir and author interviews, Now Then is not a hagiography. Broadbent visits the scenes of industrial neglect and forgotten tragedy, as well as examining the truth about well-known Yorkshire figures and institutions. Featuring Kes, the Sheffield Outrages and the most controversial poem ever written, as well as a heroic dog, a lost albatross and a stuffed crocodile, Now Then is an affectionate but unsparing look at a county, its inhabitants and their flinty vowels.

This is a funny, wise and searching account of a place that claims to have given the world its first football club and England its last witch-burning. It does include cobbles, trumpets and stiff-necked, wilful obstinacy, but it is also about ordinary Yorkshire and its extraordinary lives.

https://www.waterstones.com/book/now-then/rick-broadbent/9781838957360

Eamonn:

Homage to Catalonia by George Orwell

Every line of serious work that I have written since 1936 has been written, directly or indirectly, against totalitarianism and for democratic Socialism as I understand it.

Thus wrote Orwell following his experiences as a militiaman in the Spanish Civil War, chronicled in Homage to Catalonia. Here he brings to bear all the force of his humanity, passion and clarity, describing with bitter intensity the bright hopes and cynical betrayals of that chaotic episode: the revolutionary euphoria of Barcelona, the courage of ordinary Spanish men and women he fought alongside, the terror and confusion of the front, his near-fatal bullet wound and the vicious treachery of his supposed allies.

A firsthand account of the brutal conditions of the Spanish Civil War, George Orwell's Homage to Catalonia includes an introduction by Julian Symons in Penguin Modern Classics.

https://www.waterstones.com/book/homage-to-catalonia/george-orwell/julian-symon/9780141183053

Chris Mullin:

How they broke Britain by James O’Brien

Something has gone really wrong in Britain.

Bold and incisive as ever, James O'Brien reveals the shady network of influence that has created a broken Britain of strikes, shortages and scandals. He maps the web connecting dark think tanks to Downing Street, the journalists involved in selling it to the public and the media bosses pushing their own agendas. Over ten chapters, each focusing on a particular person complicit in the downfall, James O'Brien reveals how a select few have conspired - sometimes by incompetence, sometimes by design - to bring Britain to its knees.

https://www.waterstones.com/book/how-they-broke-britain/james-obrien/9780753560341

Recommendations:

Stuart

“Rabbits” by Hugo Rifkind

Tommo has just started at a new school – a training ground for the Scottish elite – when his friend Johnnie’s brother is found dead in a Land Rover on a Highland farm. There’s a shotgun at his feet. Nobody seems clear about what has happened, least of all Tommo.

A child of the middle class, and with new independence thrust upon him, Tommo finds himself invited into fading crumbling houses. It’s the early nineties and this elite is struggling for relevance. Alienated from the mainstream, and running low on inherited wealth, his peers have retreated into snobbery and fatalism. Half-remembered traditions mix with decadence and an awful lot of small dead animals. And sometimes, not just animals.

Awed by their poise and seduced by their hedonism, Tommo gradually becomes aware of sinister currents beneath the surface and a suppressed rage that threatens to explode into violence.

https://birlinn.co.uk/product/rabbits-2/

Eamonn

“Our Dirty War: The British State and the IRA” BBC Northern Ireland - Peter Taylor

Stakeknife was a super-spy, a secret agent working for both the British and the IRA. He walked a precarious tightrope in an undercover war where exposure meant death. Operation Kenova, the long-running investigation into Stakeknife and the so-called dirty war, which is now coming to a close, brings Peter Taylor back to Northern Ireland. He revisits the chilling IRA interrogation tapes he initially uncovered and talks again to grieving families devasted by the loss of their loved ones to the IRA’s brutal interrogators and killers.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001x24x

Sara

www.salvo.scot  

https://liberation.scot/  

“Doun-Hauden: The Socio-Political Determinants of Scottish Independence” by Alfred Baird

There is an increasingly urgent need to provide a better understanding of the phenomenon that is Scottish independence. Many commentators assume general policy matters remain key influencers of voter decisions on whether to support or reject Scottish independence. This may grossly underestimate and misunderstand the real complexity of the matter. Here, the author uses his academic expertise to ‘ground out’ an analytical framework which helps to identify, based on analysis of key environmental factors, the fundamental determinants of Scottish independence. It is argued that the framework, entitled ‘The Socio-Political Determinants of Scottish Independence’, permits far deeper analysis and understanding of the Scottish independence challenge. Collectively, the nine socio-political determinants which the author has ‘ground out’ of the data collected and analysed, help to explain and underpin the quest for, and outline the barriers opposing, Scottish independence. Each of the determinants is analysed using appropriate and relevant theories and supporting data. It is argued that this work represents a new, comprehensive, robust, and scientific way to approach the subject of Scottish independence. It is an approach that has arguably never been taken before in any of the growing mass of literature concerning the subject of Scotland’s independence, and hence represents an important and unique contribution offering new and provocative insights into Scotland’s quest for liberation. As such the book will be of interest to those interested in Scotland, in Scottish independence and to self-determination of peoples and nations more generally.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Doun-Hauden-Socio-Political-Determinants-Scottish-Independence-ebook/dp/B086ZTRXM8

At the end of the show a question from David Stark.

Recommendations:

Stuart

'Never Have I Ever' - Netflix

After a traumatic year, an Indian-American teen just wants to spruce up her social status — but friends, family and feelings won’t make it easy on her.

https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/80179190 

Eamonn

Thatcher: A Very British Revolution - BBC iplayer

The irresistible rise and dramatic downfall of Margaret Thatcher. Her inner circle reveal how a political outsider won power and dominated British life through a turbulent decade.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m0005brf/thatcher-a-very-british-revolution 

Miners' Strike 1984: The Battle for Britain - Ch4

Forty years after, through the eyes of those directly involved, this powerful series explores the bitterly divisive strike that wounded the soul of the nation.

https://www.channel4.com/programmes/miners-strike-1984-the-battle-for-britain 

Recommendations:

Eamonn

Greyhound

Tom Hanks stars as a longtime Navy veteran who, as a first-time captain, is tasked with protecting a convoy of 37 ships carrying thousands of soldiers and much-needed supplies across the treacherous waters of the Atlantic during WWII. For five days with no air cover, the captain and his small force of three escort ships must make their way through an area of the ocean known as “the Black Pit,” battling Nazi U-boats while protecting their invaluable ships and soldiers.

https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/greyhound/umc.cmc.o5z5ztufuu3uv8lx7m0jcega 

Stephen

The Empire Podcast

How do empires rise? Why do they fall? And how have they shaped the world around us today? William Dalrymple and Anita Anand explore the stories, personalities and events of empire over the course of history.

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/empire/id1639561921 

Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar

This thrilling biography of Stalin and his entourage during the terrifying decades of his supreme power transforms our understanding of Stalin as Soviet dictator, Marxist leader and Russian tsar.

https://www.waterstones.com/book/stalin/simon-sebag-montefiore/9781474614818

Stuart

Licking Hitler

BBC, 1978. Kate Nelligan, Bill Paterson

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbsR7S60hRA 

Our apologies for the sound issues we encountered on this episode.

Recommendations

Paddy

Jon Stone

There’s been a reassessment of the Blair/Brown government on the Left in recent years: you hear more about its achievements than you used you. that’s good, but it’s also important not to forget that it regularly did things a Tory government would be criticised for

https://twitter.com/joncstone/status/1231543272943898626?lang=en

Putin Vs The West- Norma Percy

A new three-part series from award-winning film-maker Norma Percy tells the inside story of how, through a decade of clashes, the West has struggled to deal with Vladimir Putin as he tries to exert his power on the world stage.

https://www.bbc.com/mediacentre/proginfo/2023/05/putin-vs-the-west

The Fifty Years War- Norma Percy

The main decision-makers from Israel, the Arab states, Russia and the US tell the inside story of the Arab-Israel conflict. Made in 1998.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/p0glc7yp/the-fifty-years-war-israel-and-the-arabs

Elusive Peace- Norma Percy

As today’s headlines continue to be dominated by the latest news from Israel and Gaza, award-winning film-maker Norma Percy looks back on her 2005 series Elusive Peace, sharing memories of her encounters with key players like Bill Clinton, Ariel Sharon and Yasser Arafat as she explored the story behind the efforts to end the conflict made around the start of the new millennium. Norma also talks about her experiences securing rare interviews with those behind some of the suicide bombings that destroyed lives and also the chances of peace.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001swsb

David

The Jazz Loft Project- W Eugene Smith

Smith’s Jazz Loft Project has been legendary in the worlds of art, photography, and music for more than forty years, but until the publication of this book, no one had seen his extraordinary photographs or read any of the firsthand accounts of those who were there and lived to tell the tales.

https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-jazz-loft-project/w-eugene-smith/sam-stephenson/9780226824840

W. Eugene Smith’s Warning to the World

The Magnum photographer made his last photo essay about industrial mercury poisoning in the Japanese city of Minamata, helping to bring justice and visibility to the victims

https://www.magnumphotos.com/arts-culture/society-arts-culture/w-eugene-smith-minamata-warning-to-the-world/

Minimata- Film

Revered photojournalist W. Eugene Smith (Johnny Depp) is coaxed out of retirement by a commission from Life magazine editor Robert Hayes (Bill Nighy). He is sent to Minamata, a Japanese city ravaged by mercury poisoning, the result of decades of gross corporate negligence. There, Smith documents the people living with Minamata Disease, the assignment quickly turning into a life-changing experience

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Minamata-Johnny-Depp/dp/B099NBF5H3

Eamonn

Slow Horses- Season 3

Spy drama following a dysfunctional team of M15 agent - and their obnoxious boss Jack Lamb - as they navigate the espionage world’s smoke and mirrors to defend England from sinister forces.

https://tv.apple.com/gb/show/slow-horses/umc.cmc.2szz3fdt71tl1ulnbp8utgq5o?ctx_brand=tvs.sbd.4000&mttn3pid=Google%20AdWords&mttnagencyid=a5e&mttncc=UK&mttnsiteid=143238&mttnsubad=OUK2019944_1-684757160536-c&mttnsubkw=136907710791__RTZ7DK1w_&mttnsubplmnt=_adext_

This week we've included questions by John Nichol and Alex MacDonald.

Recommendations:

Eamonn

The Long Way Up

Best friends Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman, reunite for Long Way Up, after more than a decade since their last motorbike adventure around the world.

Covering 13,000 miles over 100 days through 16 border crossings and 13 countries, starting from the city of Ushuaia at the tip of South America, Ewan and Charley journey through the glorious and underexposed landscapes of South and Central America.

Using cutting-edge technology on the back of their prototype electric Harley-Davidsons, the new series follows Ewan and Charley as they journey through Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and up through Colombia, Central America, Mexico and the USA.

Also joining them are their longtime collaborators, directors David Alexanian and Russ Malkin, following them in their electric Rivians.

https://tv.apple.com/us/show/long-way-up/umc.cmc.1nv0tluok21c2f8549mdjqdnh 

Simon

Curb Your Enthusiasm

Larry David stars as an over-the-top version of himself in this comedy series the shows how seemingly trivial details of day-to-day life can precipitate a catastrophic chain of events.

https://www.nowtv.com/watch/curb-your-enthusiasm/iYEQZ2uDbPiuTXRbUUJCcA?DCMP=knc-google:nc_ents&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiA8YyuBhBSEiwA5R3-E12wUhtETCYFiZ9J7czZ9lBujNDwaQzL5_xUjTqAFdk4VcjZB3-3MxoCXYwQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Catriona

A Teen's fatal plunge in to the London Underworld

After Zac Brettler mysteriously plummeted into the Thames, his grieving parents discovered that he’d been posing as an oligarch’s son. Would the police help them solve the puzzle of his death?

https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/02/12/a-teens-fatal-plunge-into-the-london-underworld 

Electoral Disfunction

Beth Rigby, Jess Phillips and Ruth Davidson team up for a new political podcast from Sky News

https://news.sky.com/story/electoral-dysfunction-beth-rigby-jess-phillips-and-ruth-davidson-team-up-for-a-new-political-podcast-from-sky-news-13065409 

At the end a question from Grant McLanaghan.

Recommendations:

Ruth

A Very Stable Genius: Donald J. Trump's Testing of America

Richly sourced and highly readable . . . Sheds new light on how the 45th president tests the boundaries of the office while trying the patience and dignity of those who work for or with him. It is not just another Trump tell-all or third-party confessional - Guardian

https://www.waterstones.com/book/a-very-stable-genius/carol-d-leonnig/philip-rucker/9781526609090 

Stuart

The New Highland Clearances

Time and again local people, impacted by a series of issues surrounding transport, infrastructure and opportunities, have described the region as being in the midst of a 'New Highland Clearances'.

Over the coming week we will examine those issues, feature local voices and ask if the viability and very futures of rural communities in Scotland are under threat. Here senior reporter at The Herald, Caroline Wilson, looks ahead to what we will cover.

https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/24075771.new-highland-clearances-herald-series-starts-monday/

Eamonn

The Irish Civil War

THE IRISH CIVIL WAR tells the epic and often challenging story of the origins, conflict and legacy of the civil war that took place in Ireland in 1922 and 1923. Narrated by Brendan Gleeson

https://www.pbsamerica.co.uk/series/the-irish-civil-war/

Brotherhood: The Inner Life of Monks

The monks of Mount St Bernard Abbey, a community of 25 men, more than half of whom are over 80 years old, are opening the first Trappist brewery in the UK. For their historic, countercultural lifestyle to survive, the venture must succeed.

In the meantime, as the monks reflect on spirituality, ageing and the end of life, the number of burials in the abbey graveyard continues to grow

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000tpzb/brotherhood-the-inner-life-of-monks

Recommendations:

Eamonn

Northern Exposure 

A recently graduated New York City physician, Dr. Joel Fleischman, is sent to practice in the fictional town of Cicely, Alaska to fulfil his obligation after Alaska paid for his medical education. Early episodes deal with Fleischman's culture shock in the small town.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/video/detail/amzn1.dv.gti.c0cbc05a-d575-4808-abff-898c5388461a?autoplay=0&ref_=atv_cf_strg_wb  

or

https://tv.apple.com/gb/episode/tranquility-base/umc.cmc.3kryqi740nnwawz2z8q5ut96e?action=play 

Stuart

How the Government captured the BBC

A right-wing cabal, largely unaccountable, is waging war on the principles that made our public broadcaster great. It must not succeed

By Alan Rusbridger

https://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ideas/media/64534/how-the-government-captured-the-bbc 

Paddy

Loudermilk

Grumpy former music critic Sam Loudermilk grudgingly navigates the world of sobriety with surly rants, even as he guides others in recovery.

https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/80174074 

Recommendations

Stuart:

‘Poor Things’

From filmmaker Yorgos Lanthimos and producer Emma Stone comes the incredible tale and fantastical evolution of Bella Baxter (Stone), a young woman brought back to life by the brilliant and unorthodox scientist Dr. Godwin Baxter (Willem Dafoe). Under Baxter’s protection, Bella is eager to learn. Hungry for the worldliness she is lacking, Bella runs off with Duncan Wedderburn (Mark Ruffalo), a slick and debauched lawyer, on a whirlwind adventure across the continents. Free from the prejudices of her times, Bella grows steadfast in her purpose to stand for equality and liberation.

https://www.searchlightpictures.com/poor-things/

Eamonn:

Napoleon (Film)

Napoleon is a spectacle-filled action epic that details the checkered rise and fall of the iconic French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, played by Oscar®-winner Joaquin Phoenix. Against a stunning backdrop of large-scale filmmaking orchestrated by legendary director Ridley Scott, the film captures Bonaparte's relentless journey to power through the prism of his addictive, volatile relationship with his one true love, Josephine, showcasing his visionary military and political tactics against some of the most dynamic practical battle sequences ever filmed.

https://www.napoleon.movie/home/

My Rembrandt (Doc)

Aristocrats cherish, experts rule, art dealers hunt, collectors crave and museums battle for Rembrandt. 350 years after the grand master of intimacy’s death, entire nations are more than ever obsessed with his paintings. My Rembrandt is an epic art thriller into the super exclusive world of the Old Masters collectors.

https://tv.apple.com/gb/movie/my-rembrandt/umc.cmc.6fjqvjy45ins0rtvlbas04yst

David:

The Legacy Of Mark Rothko (Paperback)

At the time of Mark Rothko's apparent suicide in 1970, the deeply troubled, pioneering artist of Abstract Expressionism was at the height of fame and financial success yet within months of the funeral, his three trusted friends, acting as executors, relinquished his entire legacy of 800 paintings to the powerful, international Marlborough Galleries (run by Frank Lloyd) for a fraction of their real worth on terms suspiciously unfavourable to the estate. The suit that Rothko's daughter brought against the executors and Marlborough rocked the art world with its shocking revelations of corruption in the international art trade: from the deceptions practiced on Rothko when he was alive to the scandals after his death involving conspiracies and cover-ups, double dealings and betrayals, missing paintings and manipulated markets, phony sales and laundered profits, forgery and fraud.

https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-legacy-of-mark-rothko/lee-seldes/9780306807251

MARK ROTHKO Exhibition - Fondation Louis Vuitton

The Fondation Louis Vuitton presents the first retrospective in France dedicated to Mark Rothko (1903-1970) since the exhibition held at the Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris in 1999. The retrospective brings together some 115 works from the largest international institutional collections, including the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., the Tate in London and the Phillips Collection in Washington D.C., and from international private collections, including the artist's family collection.

https://www.fondationlouisvuitton.fr/en/events/mark-rothko

At the end of the show a question from John Daly

Recommendations:

Catriona:

Priscilla

When teenage Priscilla Beaulieu meets Elvis Presley at a party, the man who is already a meteoric rock-and-roll superstar becomes someone entirely unexpected in private moments: a thrilling crush, an ally in loneliness, a gentle best friend. Through Priscilla’s eyes, Sofia Coppola tells the unseen side of a great American myth in Elvis and Priscilla's long courtship and turbulent marriage, from a German army base to his dream-world estate at Graceland, in this deeply felt and ravishingly detailed portrait of love, fantasy, and fame.

https://a24films.com/films/priscilla 

Eamonn:

Nyad

Athlete Diana Nyad sets out at 60 to achieve a nearly impossible lifelong dream: to swim from Cuba to Florida across more than 100 miles of open ocean.

https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81447231 

Stuart:

Damascus Station

A riveting spy thriller that bears comparison with the works of Deighton, le Carré and Herron, Damascus Station revolves around a CIA operative and his latest recruit who find themselves enmeshed in lethal danger in Assad's Syria.

https://www.waterstones.com/book/damascus-station/david-mccloskey//9781800752696?sv1=affiliate&sv_campaign_id=531573&awc=3787_1704895983_9b6d2b139bd3979c1d62ad9b8d9a84a0&utm_source=531573&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=https%3A%2F%2Fshopforward.nl%2F 

Happy New Year from everyone at Talk Media and The Big Light.

Recommendations:

Eamonn:

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Puffin Clothbound Classics are stunning collectable gift editions of some of the best-loved classics in the world - get into the Christmas spirit and celebrate the 180th anniversary of A Christmas Carol with this irresistible clothbound edition.

https://www.waterstones.com/book/a-christmas-carol/charles-dickens/9780241411193

A Christmas Carol BBC4

Simon Callow enacts the story of Ebeneezer Scrooge, the miserly owner of an old counting house, who is visited by the ghost of his dead business partner, Jacob Marley, on Christmas Eve. Marley warns Scrooge he is doomed in the afterlife unless he pays heed and learns from three ghosts who will visit him during the night. The Ghosts of Christmas Past, Christmas Present and Christmas Yet to Come show Scrooge how his mean, uncaring behaviour has oppressed those around him as they visit episodes from his past, his present and his future life. By the end Scrooge is humbled and redeemed and transforms into a generous, kind-hearted man.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0001kwg

Paddy:

Die Hard

A New York City police officer tries to save his estranged wife and several others taken hostage by terrorists during a Christmas party at the Nakatomi Plaza in Los Angeles.

https://www.disneyplus.com/en-gb/movies/die-hard/1NWCEanaAK2b

Casablanca BBC2 Saturday

Classic romantic drama. Rick's Cafe is a centre for criminals, refugees, resistance fighters and Nazis. Its cynical owner takes risks for no-one - until the arrival of Ilsa.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000mmc2

Refugees of Casablanca

https://nwhyte.livejournal.com/2363302.html

Catriona:

The Bishop’s Wife

An angel in human form enters the life of a bishop in order to help him build a new cathedral and repair his fractured marriage.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bishops-Wife-Cary-Grant/dp/B08CVT7W7H

Stuart:

Sir Ian Botham's charity handed up to £94,000 to his daughter's PR company last year 'but NOTHING to charitable causes’

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5696579/Sir-Ian-Bothams-charity-handed-94-000-daughters-PR-company.html

At the end of the show a question from Martin O'Donnell.

Recommendations:

Eamonn

Archie: the man who became Cary Grant

Young Archie Leach escapes his childhood in Bristol and journeys to America as his older self Cary Grant falls in love with Dyan Cannon.

https://www.itv.com/watch/archie-the-man-who-became-cary-grant/7a0170/7a0170a0001

Stuart

The Complete Collection of Fyodor Dostoevsky 6 Books Box Set

Titles In this Set

Notes From The Underground

Crime and Punishment

The Brothers Karamazov

The Devils

The Idiot

The House of the Dead

Link Here

Recommendations:

Joyce McMillan

Pitlochry Festival Theatre

Set to fantastic songs from world-renowned Scottish band The Proclaimers, Sunshine on Leith is both a funny and moving play about Davy and Ally, two Edinburgh natives returning to their hometown after serving in war-torn countries overseas, who are questioning what ‘home’ really means.

A fantastic feel-good story from Stephen Greenhorn, with a feature film adaptation in 2013, this is returning to Pitlochry Festival Theatre for 2023 as a fresh new production of an audience favourite which is sure to delight yet again.

https://pitlochryfestivaltheatre.com/whats-on/sunshine-on-leith-2023/ 

Eamonn

Tweed Valley Blogger

Let’s rewind a wee bit, I’m Stewart Wilson.  Scottish dad and husband, with two young kids, and a passion for Scotland and sharing stories.  I adore writing and am an enthusiastic amateur historian.  I love my home patch and the wider countryside around it and hope that comes across in my blogs.  In 2023, I decided to take this passion even further and left my job in the corporate world to expand the blog into TVB Tours, offering private, guided tours of the Borderlands, and further afield.  If you decide to join me for a tour, you can expect a lot of laughs, a true local insight and a deeper understanding of what makes the area so special.  Think of it as the audiobook version of the blogs you can read on the site - with lots of sweets along the way!  So head over to the tours page if you are interested in finding out more, or feel free to check out the blog which is and always will be available for all to read.

https://tweedvalleyblogger.com/ 

Reporters sans frontières (RSF)

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) defends the right of every human being to have access to free and reliable information. This right is essential to know, understand, form an opinion and take action on vital issues in full awareness, both individually and collectively.

Our mission? Act for the freedom, pluralism and independence of journalism and defend those who embody these ideals.

Our mandate is in the spirit of Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and of the major declarations and charters relating to journalistic ethics, notably the Munich Declaration of the Duties and Rights of Journalists.

https://rsf.org/en 

Stuart

THE NATIONAL CHERRY BLOSSOM FESTIVAL PARADE®

The Nation’s Springtime Parade was an amazing sight on Constitution Avenue this year! Grand colourful helium balloons, elaborate floats, marching bands from across the country, celebrity entertainers, and performers burst down the Parade route in a spectacle of music and showmanship celebrating spring in Washington, DC.

https://nationalcherryblossomfestival.org/event/2024-national-cherry-blossom-festival-parade/ 

Recommendations:

David:

The Pigeon Tunnel - Apple TV

Academy Award-winning documentarian Errol Morris pulls back the curtain on the storied life and career of former British spy David Cornwell — better known as John le Carré, author of such classic espionage novels as The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and The Constant Gardener. Set against the turbulent backdrop of the Cold War leading into present day, the film spans six decades as le Carré delivers his final and most candid interview, punctuated with rare archival footage and dramatized vignettes. "The Pigeon Tunnel" is a deeply human and engaging exploration of le Carré's extraordinary journey and the paper-thin membrane between fact and fiction.

https://www.apple.com/uk/tv-pr/originals/the-pigeon-tunnel/ 

The Pigeon Tunnel: Stories from My Life (Paperback)

https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-pigeon-tunnel/john-le-carre/9780241976890 

Stuart:

The Boat Story - BBC

Two strangers. One boat. Nothing to lose. An unexpected discovery could mean a second chance - or a bloody end. Dark comic thriller with Paterson Joseph and Daisy Haggard.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/p0glbknc/boat-story

Eamonn:

Lockerbie - Sky

LOCKERBIE, a new mini-series that will be based on the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 and the search for justice by Dr Jim Swire and his wife Jane who lost their beloved daughter, Flora, in the air disaster in 1988.

The five-part series will be written by Academy Award nominees Jim Sheridan (In The Name of The Father, My Left Foot) and Kirsten Sheridan (In America, Dollhouse).

All 259 passengers and crew were killed when the bomb exploded over Lockerbie 38 minutes after take-off, with a further 11 residents losing their life as the plane came down over the quiet, Scottish town. Thirteen years later, in 2001, Libyan national Abdelbaset al-Megrahi was convicted of the crime and later released on compassionate grounds in 2009.

Shortly after the Lockerbie bombing, one of the worst terrorist attacks in history, some families of the victims joined together to launch a campaign for truth and justice. Among them was Dr Jim Swire whose campaign has taken him to the sand dunes of Libya to meet face-to-face with Colonel Gaddafi, to 10 Downing Street to meet with successive Prime Ministers and to the corridors of power in the US where he worked with the American victims’ groups to mount pressure on Washington for tighter airport security, well before 9/11.

The moving series will explore events from 1988 to the present day, while providing an intimate account of a man, a husband, and a father who pushes his marriage, his health, and his sanity to the edge.

https://www.sky.com/watch/title/series/8a3430f6-066b-3397-abec-1d72b380ed90 

Please note this show was recording pre Autumn Statement.

At the end of the show a question from Kay Springham

Recomendations:

Eamonn

Spymaster book by Helen Fry

The dramatic story of a man who stood at the centre of British intelligence operations, the ultimate spymaster of World War II: Thomas Kendrick

“A remarkable piece of historical detective work. . . . Now, thanks to this groundbreaking book, the result of years of meticulous research and expert analysis, Kendrick’s role as one of the great spymasters of the twentieth century can be revealed.”—Saul David, Daily Telegraph

Thomas Kendrick (1881–1972) was central to the British Secret Service from its beginnings through to the Second World War. Under the guise of “British Passport Officer,” he ran spy networks across Europe, facilitated the escape of Austrian Jews, and later went on to set up the “M Room,” a listening operation which elicited information of the same significance and scope as Bletchley Park. Yet the work of Kendrick, and its full significance, remained largely unknown.

Helen Fry draws on extensive original research to tell the story of this remarkable British intelligence officer. Kendrick’s life sheds light on the development of MI6 itself—he was one of the few men to serve Britain across three wars, two of which while working for the British Secret Service. Fry explores the private and public sides of Kendrick, revealing him to be the epitome of the “English gent”—easily able to charm those around him and scrupulously secretive.

https://www.waterstones.com/book/spymaster/helen-fry/9780300266979 

Paddy

Documentaries by Norma Percy

Israel and the Arabs 

Award-winning film-maker Norma Percy looks back on her acclaimed 1998 documentary series The Fifty Years War: Israel and the Arabs. 

Through interviews and analysis from key players of the time, the series forensically detailed the conflict’s origins and key moments, and here Norma shares how the programme came to life, how she gained the trust of some of the most significant figures of the day and what the lessons from history might be.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001sfvq/the-fifty-years-war-israel-and-the-arabs-eyewitness-to-history-norma-percy-on-the-fifty-years-war 

The Elusive Peace - Monday 27th Nov BBC4 22.00

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001swsb 

At the end a question from John Daly.

Recommendations:

Stuart:

The Pigeon Tunnel

Academy Award-winning documentarian Errol Morris pulls back the curtain on the storied life and career of former British spy David Cornwell -- better known as John le Carré, author of such classic espionage novels as The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and The Constant Gardener. Set against the turbulent backdrop of the Cold War leading into present day, the film spans six decades as le Carré delivers his final and most candid interview, punctuated with rare archival footage and dramatized vignettes. "The Pigeon Tunnel" is a deeply human and engaging exploration of le Carré's extraordinary journey and the paper-thin membrane between fact and fiction.

https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/the-pigeon-tunnel/umc.cmc.633pbtki99m7e8lc9ybbyab3

Catriona:

The Newsreader

Set in 1986, the show follows the unlikely bond between a young TV reporter (Reid) and a 'difficult' female newsreader (Torv), as they cover events such as the shock of the Challenger explosion, the hype of Halley's Comet and complexities of the AIDS crisis.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/p0cgx4k0/the-newsreader

Recommendations:

The Courier Talking Football Podcast

Scottish football is too often dominated by the Old Firm, but the teams across Courier Country deserve a football podcast that’s every bit as informed, every bit as passionate, and every bit as in-depth as anything covering Rangers FC and Celtic FC.

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/courier-podcasts/courier-talking-football-podcast/ 

Stuart

Panenka

His name was Joseph, but for years they had called him Panenka, a name that was his sadness and his story. Panenka has spent 25 years living with the disastrous mistakes of his past, which have made him an exile in his home town and cost him his dearest relationships. Now aged 50, Panenka begins to rebuild an improvised family life with his estranged daughter and her seven year old son. But at night, Panenka suffers crippling headaches that he calls his Iron Mask. Faced with losing everything, he meets Esther, a woman who has come to live in the town to escape her own disappointments. Together, they find resonance in each other's experiences and learn new ways to let love into their broken lives.

Link Here

Jim

Bosch:Legacy

Season 1

Harry Bosch, retired homicide detective turned Private Investigator, fights to work cases without the authority his former job provided. Attorney Honey “Money” Chandler, having survived an attempted murder, struggles to maintain her faith in the justice system. And Maddie Bosch discovers the possibilities and challenges of being a rookie patrol cop on the streets of Los Angeles.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bosch-Legacy-Season-1/dp/B09PQ959KW 

The Equalizer

Ex-assassin Robert McCall confronts his past as he battles the Italian mafia.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Equalizer-3-Bonus-X-Ray/dp/B0B673D7YL 

Richard Osman

The Bullet that Missed

The Man who died Twice

https://www.waterstones.com/author/richard-osman/53658 

Eamonn

Sly

His love of film began as an escape from a rocky childhood. From underdog to Hollywood legend, Sylvester Stallone tells his story in this documentary.

https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81450717

Recommendations:

Eamonn:

Shakespeare: The Man Who Pays The Rent (Hardback)

Cavorting naked through the Warwickshire countryside painted green.

Acting opposite a child with a pumpkin on his head.

These are just a few of the things Dame Judi Dench has done in the name of Shakespeare.

For the very first time, Judi opens up about every Shakespearean role she has played throughout her seven-decade career, from Lady Macbeth and Titania to Ophelia and Cleopatra. In a series of intimate conversations with actor & director Brendan O'Hea, she guides us through Shakespeare's plays with incisive clarity, revealing the secrets of her rehearsal process and inviting us to share in her triumphs, disasters, and backstage shenanigans.

Interspersed with vignettes on audiences, critics, company spirit and rehearsal room etiquette, she serves up priceless revelations on everything from the craft of speaking in verse to her personal interpretations of some of Shakespeare's most famous scenes, all brightened by her mischievous sense of humour, striking level of honesty and a peppering of hilarious anecdotes, many of which have remained under lock and key until now.

Instructive and witty, provocative and inspiring, this is ultimately Judi's love letter to Shakespeare, or rather, The Man Who Pays The Rent.

https://www.waterstones.com/book/shakespeare/judi-dench/9780241632178 

Stuart:

@historyinmemes

Daily history lessons. Education through memes!

https://twitter.com/historyinmemes 

Ruth:

Robert Carlyle returns to screens for the third instalment of fan favourite political thriller COBRA: Rebellion with Jane Horrocks joining the cast.

Prime Minister Sutherland (Carlyle) remains in office at Number 10 alongside Victoria Hamilton (The Crown), who is back as Chief of Staff, Anna Marshall. Jane Horrocks (Bloods, Absolutely Fabulous) also joins the cast, entering the cabinet as Victoria Dalton, a new populist Defence Secretary.

In this season, Prime Minister Robert Sutherland faces more challenges than ever before. Just as his popularity plumets in light of a new, controversial police-protest bill, his administration is plunged into chaos when an environmental demonstration ends with grave consequences.

As the inquest into the events at the protest gets underway, the Prime Minister and his government begin to realise that all is not as it seems. And with his daughter potentially embroiled with the group behind it all, his interest in the case isn’t purely political, adding further turmoil to his already strained homelife.

The investigation quickly takes them into the dark underbelly of the nation’s power, and the PM starts to doubt whom of his team he can truly trust. The crisis spirals further to encompass not only the urgent threat of environmental destruction but also the malignant corruption of the arms industry, the rise of shadowy corporate security firms and the grim reality of the UK’s relationship with a crucial ally.

The rebellion will push Robert Sutherland to the edge and force him to question what he’s personally willing to sacrifice in order to stay in power.

https://www.skygroup.sky/en-gb/article/-the-explosive-third-instalment-of-sky-original-drama-cobra-rebellion-coming-to-sky-max-and-now-on-12-october-  

Recomendations:

David:

Simon Murphy 'Govanhill'

This major exhibition of Simon Murphy’s photographic document 'Govanhill' brings together his long term project of a place in the southside of the city of Glasgow – a local place which is truly international in the demographics of those who live there.

Simon has been documenting people in this locality for several years with the resulting images giving an insight into one of Scotland's most diverse areas. Govanhill is a point of arrival for many. Traditionally it has been a place where immigrants arrive in Glasgow and often move on from. It is estimated that 88 languages are spoken in the densely populated area of only 0.33 square miles. It's a mixing pot of cultures and ethnicities. These differences have contributed to tension within the community but also make Govanhill one of the most diverse and exciting places in the city. Simon’s project consists mainly of street portraiture of individuals who live and pass through the area.

https://www.streetlevelphotoworks.org/event/simon_murphy_govanhill

My war gone by I miss It so. Anthony Loyd

In 1993, Anthony Loyd hitchhiked to the Balkans hoping to become a journalist. Leaving behind him the legends of a distinguished military family, he wanted to see ‘a real war’ for himself. In Bosnia he found one.

The cruelty and chaos of the conflict both appalled and embraced him; the adrenalin lure of the action perhaps the loudest siren call of all. In the midst of the daily life-and-death struggle among Bosnia’s Serbs, Croats and Muslims, he was inspired by the extraordinary human fortitude he discovered. But returning home he found the void of peacetime too painful to bear, and so began a longstanding personal battle with drug abuse.

This harrowing account shows humanity at its worst and best, and is acknowledged as a classic of the genre. It is a breathtaking feat of reportage; an uncompromising look at the terrifyingly seductive power of war.

https://www.waterstones.com/book/my-war-gone-by-i-miss-it-so/anthony-loyd/9781912836048

Stuart:

Grayson Perry | Smash Hits

This summer, come and see the biggest ever exhibition of Sir Grayson Perry's work, covering his 40-year career. Perry has gone from taking pottery evening classes to winning the Turner Prize, presenting television programmes on Channel 4 and writing acclaimed books. Pottery allowed him the opportunity to indulge his fascination with sex, Punk, and counterculture, amongst other things, in the most unlikely and polite of artforms. Today he is one of Britain's most celebrated artists and cultural figures.

Popular and provocative, Perry makes art that deals with difficult and complex ideas in an accessible and often funny way. He loves taking on big issues that are universally human: masculinity, sexuality, class, religion, politics and more. On view will be subversive pots, brilliantly intricate prints, elaborate sculptures, and huge, captivating tapestries - all imbued with Perry's sharp wit and social commentary. Working with traditional artforms, Perry addresses the controversial issues of our times.

https://www.nationalgalleries.org/exhibition/grayson-perry-smash-hits

Eamonn:

Be Useful: Seven tools for life

The seven rules to follow to realise your true purpose in life-distilled by Arnold Schwarzenegger from his own journey of ceaseless reinvention and extraordinary achievement, and available for absolutely anyone.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Be-Useful-Seven-tools-life/dp/1529146534/ref=asc_df_1529146534/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=641789777959&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=10095737638662757955&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9046946&hvtargid=pla-2089799233408&psc=1&th=1&psc=1

Recommendations:

Stuart:

Beckham

With never-before-seen footage, this docuseries follows David Beckham's meteoric rise from humble beginnings to global football stardom.

https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81223488

Paddy:

Cassius X

Exploring the life of Cassius Clay as he undergoes his spiritual transformation as well as examining the evolution of his amazing boxing skills, this landmark film is structured around the early years of his boxing career between 1959 and 1964 when he turned professional and pursued his dream of becoming World Heavyweight Champion.

From his first contact with the Nation of Islam to the moment when he is given the name Muhammad Ali, we reveal the events in America that would shape his beliefs and examine the figures such as Elijah Muhammad and Malcolm X who would become his spiritual advisors. Featuring interviews with people with a direct connection to these moments in Ali’s life, Cassius X: Becoming Ali examines the influences on Ali’s awakenings with regard to owning his own identity - the Nation of Islam, integration vs. separation, and the thoughts and perspectives and beliefs he adopts.

It is Ali’s origin story - the definitive observation of the emergence of a hero

https://www.screen.scot/film-in-scotland/made-in-scotland/film/cassius-x-becoming-ali

The Thief Collector

In 1985, Willem de Kooning's "Woman-Ochre," one of the most valuable paintings of the 20th century, was cut from its frame at the University of Arizona Museum of Art. 32 years later, the painting was found hanging in a New Mexico home.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/placeholder_title/dp/B0B8HVPLRH

Shona:

Doppelganger: A Trip into the Mirror World: Signed Edition (Hardback)

What if you woke up one morning and found you’d acquired a double? Someone almost like you, and yet not you at all?

When Naomi Klein discovered that a woman who shared her first name, but had radically different, harmful views, was getting chronically mistaken for her, it seemed too ridiculous to take seriously. Then suddenly it wasn’t. She started to find herself grappling with a distorted sense of reality, becoming obsessed with reading the threats on social media, the endlessly scrolling insults from the followers of her doppelganger. Why had her shadowy other gone down such an extreme path? Why was identity – all we have to meet the world – so unstable?

To find out, Klein decided to follow her double into a bizarre, uncanny mirror world: one of conspiracy theories, anti-vaxxers and demagogue hucksters, where soft-focus wellness influencers make common cause with fire-breathing far right propagandists (all in the name of protecting ‘the children’). In doing so, she lifts the lid on our own culture during this surreal moment in history, as we turn ourselves into polished virtual brands, publicly shame our enemies, watch as deep fakes proliferate and whole nations flip from democracy to something far more sinister.

This is a book for our age and for all of us; a deadly serious dark comedy which invites us to view our reflections in the looking glass. It’s for anyone who has lost hours down an internet rabbit hole, who wonders why our politics has become so fatally warped, and who wants a way out of our collective vertigo and back to fighting for what really matters.

https://www.waterstones.com/book/doppelganger/naomi-klein/2928377214036

‘The Labour Party Conference’ and ‘Israel at War’ / with David Pratt

Thank you for all your questions for David

Recommendations:

Stuart:

The Reckoning

Factual drama examining the crimes of Jimmy Savile, with testimony from survivors.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/p0g4swnr/the-reckoning

Eamonn:

Race across the World

In a frenetic race across the world, travellers can choose any route they like - but no flights or phones are allowed. On the trip of a lifetime, which pair will finish first?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0002tvs 

David:

We Could Have Been Friends, My Father and I: A Palestinian Memoir

The author and activist Raja Shehadeh reflects on his complex relationship with his late father - fellow activist Aziz - in this searing and emotionally candid memoir that views the Palestinian struggle through the prism of a singular family dynamic.

A vocal and fearless opponent, Aziz resists under the British mandatory period, then under Jordan, and, finally, under Israel. As a young man, Raja fails to recognise his father's courage and, in turn, his father does not appreciate Raja's own efforts in campaigning for Palestinian human rights.

When Aziz is murdered in 1985, it changes Raja irrevocably. This is not only the story of the battle against the various oppressors of the Palestinians, but a moving portrait of a particular father and son relationship.

https://www.waterstones.com/book/we-could-have-been-friends-my-father-and-i/raja-shehadeh/9781788169974 

This is the news media and article that David mentioned

Israel Can’t Imprison Two Million Gazans Without Paying a Cruel Price

https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/2023-10-09/ty-article-opinion/.premium/israel-cant-imprison-2-million-gazans-without-paying-a-cruel-price/0000018b-1476-d465-abbb-14f6262a0000 

Recommendations:

Ruth:

Cobra Season 3

Robert Carlyle returns to screens for the third instalment of fan favourite political thriller COBRA: Rebellion with Jane Horrocks joining the cast.

https://www.skygroup.sky/article/-the-explosive-third-instalment-of-sky-original-drama-cobra-rebellion-coming-to-sky-max-and-now-on-12-october-

Cove & Kilcreggan Book Festival

https://www.facebook.com/cbhbookfest/

Eamonn:

Party Gate

Karaoke, suitcases of wine, ambushing cake... this factual drama tells the story of Covid from inside 10 Downing Street as staff kicked back at lockdown-breaching parties.

https://www.channel4.com/programmes/partygate

Stuart:

Union

National identity, social class, inequality. David Olusoga shines a light on our fractured modern society through the lens of the past, exposing the fault lines dividing the UK.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0gd25kn

Recommendations:

Eamonn

“Who Killed Jill Dando”

Revisit the shocking 1999 murder of beloved TV presenter Jill Dando, which continues to mystify experts and the public, in this in-depth documentary.

https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81594933

Stuart

“Football And How To Survive It”

The former footballer and author of the acclaimed The Accidental Footballer recounts his turbulent tenure as both player and Chief Executive of Scottish First Division side Motherwell in this rollicking, eye-opening and moving account of running a professional football club.

Waterstones

Angela

“Truth”

Newsroom drama detailing the 2004 CBS 60 Minutes report investigating then-President George W. Bush's military service, and the subsequent firestorm of criticism that cost anchor Dan Rather and producer Mary Mapes their careers.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Truth-Cate-Blanchett/dp/B01HCILSY4

“She Said”

New York Times reporters Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor break one of the most important stories in a generation — a story that helped launch the #MeToo movement and shattered decades of silence around the subject of sexual assault in Hollywood.

https://www.universalpictures.co.uk/micro/she-said

Recommendations:

Eamonn: The Haunting in Venice

In post-World War II Venice, Poirot, now retired and living in his own exile, reluctantly attends a seance. But when one of the guests is murdered, it is up to the former detective to once again uncover the killer.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt22687790/ 

Catriona: The Morning Show

This Emmy® winner is an unapologetically candid drama that looks at the modern workplace through the lens of the people who help wake America up.

TheMorningShow link 

Stuart: 'X' (Twitter) ON THIS DAY 

https://twitter.com/SaintsOTD  

Recommendations:

Stuart: Gallus, Michael McEwan

There are two kinds of people in this world. Those who insist that football is just a game, and those who know better. Take the April 1967 clash between England and Scotland. Wounded by their biggest rivals winning the World Cup just nine months earlier, Bobby Brown's Scots travelled to Wembley on the mother of all missions. Win and they would take a huge step towards qualifying for the 1968 European Championship, end England's formidable 19-game unbeaten streak, and, best of all, put Sir Alf Ramsey's men firmly back in their box. Lose? Well, that was just unthinkable.

Available at Waterstones 

Eamonn: Live to 100; The secrets of the Blue Zones, Netflix

Travel around the world with author Dan Beuttner to discover five unique communities where people live extraordinarily long and vibrant lives.

Available on Netflix

Recommendations:

Eamonn: Hatton, Sky 

Compelling Sky Original documentary painting an intimate portrait of Ricky Hatton, charting the ex-British boxer’s journey from an estate in Manchester to the bright lights of Las Vegas. 

Available on Sky and Now TV

Ruth : David Hockney, Sky 

An intimate portrait of David Hockney, featuring interviews with the artist - one of Britain’s most beloved painters - in London and Normandy, and exclusive new footage of a master at work.

Available on Sky and Now TV

Grand Old Opera House Hotel 

When Aaron joins the Grand Old Opera House hotel’s ramshackle team he’s faced with volatile guests, apathetic staff, and inept management. Not to mention the rumour of a pair of singing ghosts haunting the corridors. He and his colleague Jay, an operatic anorak, are drawn inexorably together by strange music floating through the hotel. 

A heart-filling ensemble comedy from Olivier Award-winning writer Isobel McArthur (Pride and Prejudice* Sort Of, Kidnapped) A story of art bringing us together in hopeless circumstances, to the tune of some of the most popular opera songs ever written.

Showing soon at the Dundee Rep 

Paddy: The Great, Channel 4 + Lionsgate 

The Great is a satirical, comedic drama - based on the occasional historical fact - about the rise of Catherine the Great from outsider to the longest reigning female ruler in Russia's history. A very modern story about the past.

Available on Lionsgate + 

Recommendations:

Stuart: The Missing Madonna - BBC Sounds

The Missing Madonna, which is available from 25 August on BBC Sounds, marks the 20th anniversary of an audacious art heist that set the record for the most valuable painting ever to be stolen in Britain.

BBC Sounds

Eammon: The Man Who Stole the Scream - Sky Documentaries

The story of the theft of Edvard Munch’s painting, the Scream, and the game of cat and mouse between an art-loving thief and a maverick detective.

Sky Documentaries 

Simon: Fight the Power, How Hip Hop Changed the World - BBC iPlayer

The beats that broke new ground. How hip hop emerged from underground New York into a global force for change and empowerment, as told by icons Chuck , Ice-T, Run DMC and more.

BBC iPlayerShownotes:

At the end of the show a question from Mila Stricevic

Recommendations

Stuart: The Missing Madonna - BBC Sounds

The Missing Madonna, which is available from 25 August on BBC Sounds, marks the 20th anniversary of an audacious art heist that set the record for the most valuable painting ever to be stolen in Britain.

BBC Sounds

Eammon: The Man Who Stole the Scream - Sky Documentaries

The story of the theft of Edvard Munch’s painting, the Scream, and the game of cat and mouse between an art-loving thief and a maverick detective.

Sky Documentaries 

Simon: Fight the Power, How Hip Hop Changed the World - BBC iPlayer

The beats that broke new ground. How hip hop emerged from underground New York into a global force for change and empowerment, as told by icons Chuck , Ice-T, Run DMC and more.

BBC iPlayer

Recommendations: 

Stuart: Painkiller - Netflix 

The causes and consequences of America’s opioid epidemic unfold in this drama following its perpetrators, victims, and an investigator seeking the truth.

Available on Netflix

Eamonn: 13 Days, Amazon Prime

In this gritty thriller starring Kevin Cosnar and Bruce Greenwood, President John F. Kennedy and his chief advisor struggle to prevent nuclear disaster in the midst of the Cuban Missile Crisis. 

Available on Amazon Prime 

Catriona: Hijack, Apple TVWhen Flight KA29 is hijacked during its 7 hour journey from Dubai to London, Sam Nelsen, an accomplished corporate negotiator, tries using his professional skills to save everyone on board.

Available on Apple TV

https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0031/265378/scotland-report-2023.pdf

Recommendations:

Stuart: The King Who Never Was - Netflix

A Prince in exile, a top model, a gunshot in the dark that changed the lives of so many people, for generations to come. Starting with the events that happened on the tragic night of August 18th, 1978 at Cavallo Island, The King Who Never Was traces the story of Vittorio Emanuele Di Savoia, the last heir to the throne of Italy.

https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81495974

Eamonn: The Ones We Sent Away, Jennifer Senior - The Atlantic

Jennifer Senior chronicles the institutionalisation of her estranged aunt, who, along with many others in the 19th and 20th centuries, was subjugated from public life due to her disabilities. It is a moving, often deeply uncomfortable, exploration of the ways in which disabled people have been treated throughout history and highlights the traumatic impact of forced institutionalisation for disabled people and their families.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2023/09/disabled-children-institutionalization-history/674763/

Recommendations:

Eamonn: Private Eye

The official site for Private Eye magazine, the UK's number one best-selling news and current affairs publication edited by Ian Hislop.

https://www.private-eye.co.uk/ 

Paddy: Nothing Compares - SKY Tv

Directed by Belfast-born filmmaker Kathryn Ferguson, the archive-led documentary takes viewers back to Sinead’s prophetic words and deeds from 1987-1993. It reflects on the legacy of a fearless artist through a contemporary feminist lens and features era-defining music videos and concert performances, previously unseen footage, and a present-day interview with Sinead. The docu-film is a tapestry of Sinead’s impact on the world around her and ties together intimate first-hand interviews and insights from contemporary artists, musicians and social commentators who introduce broader themes of Irish history, politics, and global activism, all the while reflecting on Sinead’s artistry and far-reaching, global impact.

https://www.skystore.com/product/nothing-compares/a9b42c34-f6af-40ad-86c1-1e14b87ad9f7 

Ruth: Moorcroft - National Theatre of Scotland

Garry’s turned 50 but doesn’t feel like celebrating. Exhausted from years spent wrapped in regret, he begins to relive ‘the glory days’, trying to understand his mistakes, answer questions and right some wrongs in a bid to make peace with his past and find renewed purpose.

Inspired by true stories, Moorcroft follows a group of young lads in search of an escape from working class life. But can playing football save them from the challenges they face and make them the men they want to be?

With true friendship and the tenacity of working class people at its heart, Moorcroft tackles toxic masculinity in Scotland and asks ‘what is a real man?’ The hit show returns for extra-time after a sell-out run in 2022.

https://www.nationaltheatrescotland.com/events/moorcroft 

The Spy Across the Water - The Will Flemyng Thrillers (Hardback) :James Naughtie

From one of our most treasured BBC broadcasters, The Spy Across the Water is the the third instalment in James Naughtie's brilliant spy series, woven around three brothers bound together forever through espionage.

We live with our history, but it can kill us.

Faces from the past appear from nowhere at a family funeral, and Will Flemyng, spy-turned-ambassador, is drawn into twin mysteries that threaten everything he holds dear. From Washington, he's pitched back into the Troubles in Northern Ireland and an explosive secret hidden deep in the most dangerous but fulfilling friendship he has known. And while he confronts shadowy adversaries in American streets, and looks for solace at home in the Scottish Highlands, he discovers that his government's most precious Cold War agent is in mortal danger and needs his help to survive.

In an electric story of courage and betrayal, Flemyng learns the truth that his life has left him a man with many friends, but still alone.

https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-spy-across-the-water/james-naughtie/9781784080235 

Recommendations:

Andrea:

Jude and Diana

The only mention of Jude in Nova Scotia’s official history relates to her death: a slave-owning family was brought to trial for her murder in 1801. They were acquitted despite overwhelming evidence that they were guilty. Sharon Robart-Johnson pays tribute to such archival glimpses of enslaved people by re-creating the fullness of sisters Jude and Diana’s survival, emphasizing their joys alongside their hardship. She stories their movements through the U.S. to Nova Scotia, Canada, with the arrival of the United Empire Loyalists in 1783. As a child, Jude is sold away and then, by a lucky turn of fate, reunited with her fiercely loving family. Jude’s experiences harden her into a rebel who resists injustice without heeding consequences, and after her death, Diana is left alone to deal with racist and sexual violence.

https://fernwoodpublishing.ca/book/jude-and-diana

Eamonn:

Juan Carlos Downfall of a King

Four-part Sky Original docuseries shedding light on former King of Spain Juan Carlos I, the scandal surrounding his personal life and allegations of corruption - leading up to his abdication in 2014.

https://www.nowtv.com/watch/juan-carlos-downfall-of-the-king/iYEQYZ6xzLBzHSkfjUoxrb/iYsxVNyjMDcpBDJrL47BVS/seasons/1

Stuart:

Oppenheimer

The story of American scientist, J. Robert Oppenheimer, and his role in the development of the atomic bomb.

https://www.oppenheimermovie.co.uk/

The Lost Salt Gift of Blood - Alistair Macleod

A collection of 12 stories by this Canadian author. All of the stories are set in Cape Breton on the Atlantic Coast, in the communities of emigre Scots highlanders whose way of life has scarcely changed in hundreds of years.

https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-lost-salt-gift-of-blood/alistair-macleod/joyce-carol-oates/9780224032193

At the end of the show a question from Dennis Maxwell

Recommendations:

Stuart:

Brian Woods(I)

Brian Woods was born on 16 March 1963 in St. Annes, Lancashire, England, UK. He is a producer and director, known for The Carpet Slaves: Stolen Children of India (2001), Kids Behind Bars (2001) and Frontline (1983).

Born

March 16, 1963

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0940523/

Catriona:

The Sixth Commandment - iPlayer

An inspirational teacher is courted by a student, triggering a complex criminal case. A sinister real-life story starring Timothy Spall and Anne Reid.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/p0fvlpf9/the-sixth-commandment

Women in Journalism Scotland

Women in Journalism Scotland is hosting a first-of-its-kind live event addressing the challenges and opportunities that working class women journalists face.

Held at the iconic Glasgow Women's Library, this will be an essential exploration of class dynamics in Scottish journalism and beyond, shining a light on the hidden hurdles working class journalists come up against in their careers.

Attendees will gain insights into the unique challenges that working class women journalists encounter when entering the industry, and why amplifying and championing the voices and careers of working class press is fundamental to the health of the Scottish media.

Our panel of speakers will share their advice and personal experiences on navigating the world of journalism without breaking the bank, and the audience is welcome to join in.

OUR PANELLISTS ARE:

• Dani Garavelli, award-winning writer and columnist
• Jen Stout, freelance journalist and correspondent
• Dayna McAlpine, lifestyle editor at HuffPost

Chair and organiser: Iris Pase, Women in Journalism Scotland committee

The evening will have broad appeal, in particular to editors looking to recruit more diverse teams; middle and upper class journalists who want to support their working class colleagues as well as promote more inclusive media coverage; reporters of any background who wish to pass down practical knowledge to aspiring journalists.

A QR code packed with support and information from the night will be available for attendees.

Canapés and wine will be provided, and guests will take away a goodie bag.

To book tickets please click here.

The venue is fully accessible with level access from the street, lifts to upper levels and induction loops that can be set up in advance. Please let us know if you have accessibility needs. More info here: https://womenslibrary.org.uk/inspiring-resources/venue-hire/

https://www.wijscotland.com/events

Eamonn:

Quarterback - Netflix

Being a professional quarterback is arguably the toughest job in football — maybe in any sport, period. Quarterback, the new eight-episode docuseries from NFL Films and Omaha Productions, follows three of the biggest quarterbacks in the game throughout the 2022 season, giving an unprecedented look at what it takes for the Kansas City Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes, the Minnesota Vikings’ Kirk Cousins and the Atlanta Falcons’ Marcus Mariota to succeed when all eyes are on them.

“Look — we’ve seen quarterbacks mic’d up for a game. We’ve certainly seen training camp. But we’ve never followed a quarterback throughout the entire season to see what he does Sunday night after a big win, after a brutal loss on a last-second field goal — what they do on Mondays and Tuesdays on their off days,” Hall of Fame quarterback and Quarterback executive producer Peyton Manning told Netflix. “Are they hanging out? Are they playing golf? Are they in the weight room and watching film and grinding for that next game? Which is the answer, by the way, not to give it away. There is no golf in the season.”

https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/quarterback-nfl-docuseries-news

Recommendations:

David

'Brave Men' by Ernie Pyle

The classic, human-scale account of the soldiers who fought in World War II, by Pulitzer Prize winner Ernie Pyle—America’s most famous and most loved war correspondent—featuring a new introduction by David Chrisinger, the author of the new Ernie Pyle biography, The Soldier's Truth

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Brave-Men-Ernie-Pyle/dp/0143137174

https://www.penguinrandomhouseaudio.com/book/700425/brave-men/

The Soldier's Truth: Ernie Pyle and the Story of World War II

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Soldiers-Truth-Ernie-Story-World/dp/1984881310

Eamonn

https://twitter.com/ #RTEgate

Stuart

Wham

Through archival interviews and footage, George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley relive the arc of their Wham! career, from 70s best buds to 80s pop icons.

Starring:George Michael,Andrew Ridgeley

https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81137188

Recommendations:

Stuart

Reuters News

Reuters News delivers breaking news, analysis and market data from the world’s most trusted news organisation. Explore a seamless stream of articles, pictures and videos on your phone or tablet.

https://www.reuters.com/tools/mobile/us

Eamonn

Muscles & Mayhem: An Unauthorised Story of American Gladiators

In the '90s, TV's stunt-filled "American Gladiators" thrilled fans. This docuseries explores the show's success — and how it almost ended before it began.

https://www.netflix.com/gb/TITle/81462151

Angela

The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling

The Witch Trials of J.K. Rowling is an audio documentary that examines some of the most contentious conflicts of our time through the life and career of the world’s most successful author. In conversation with host Megan Phelps-Roper, J.K. Rowling speaks with unprecedented candor and depth about the controversies surrounding her—from book bans to debates on gender and sex. The series also examines the forces propelling this moment in history, through interviews with Rowling’s supporters and critics, journalists, historians, clinicians, and more.

https://music.amazon.co.uk/podcasts/66896636-8562-466b-a50d-81b85b14b8f2/the-witch-trials-of-j-k-rowling?ref_=dmm_acq_mrn_d_ds_rh_z_-c_c_632415191007_t_dsa-1670569866842&gclid=CjwKCAjwqZSlBhBwEiwAfoZUIMTHzFODREbxWIDWRyuVTIa84UjpuHsEM7MVLf8EpSsdMuLw6VAThRoCzkUQAvD_BwE

The Trouble with KanYe

In October 2022, Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, drew widespread condemnation after wearing a White Lives Matter T-shirt at his Paris Fashion Show. That controversy was swiftly followed up with a series of antisemitic statements on social media. With his dangerous statements making global headlines, Ye doubled down by sharing dangerous and inflammatory mistruths during a series of interviews. In the face of backlash, Ye told the paparazzi that he was planning to run for president of the United States in 2024.

Unfolding against the backdrop of Ye’s recent behaviour and his rumoured 2024 presidential campaign, this documentary sees award-winning journalist Mobeen Azhar travel to the United States to try and discover how one of America’s most celebrated artists became a megaphone for hate and division.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001nc6f

At the end of the show a listener question from Ian Mount

Steve Richards Presents: Rock'n'Roll Politics Edinburgh Festival Aug 13-26

https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/steve-richards-presents-rock-n-roll-politics 

Recommendations:

Stuart

Oppenheimer Trailer

Written and directed by Christopher Nolan, Oppenheimer is an IMAX®-shot epic thriller that thrusts audiences into the pulse-pounding paradox of the enigmatic man who must risk destroying the world in order to save it. The film stars Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer and Emily Blunt as his wife, biologist and botanist Katherine “Kitty” Oppenheimer. Oscar® winner Matt Damon portrays General Leslie Groves Jr., director of the Manhattan Project, and Robert Downey, Jr. plays Lewis Strauss, a founding commissioner of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYPbbksJxIg 

Steve

Ben Elton: The Great Railway Disaster

The railways are in crisis, from mass cancellations to soaring prices. Comedian Ben Elton embarks on a northern rail misadventure. Is rail privatisation a failed experiment?

https://www.channel4.com/programmes/ben-elton-the-great-railway-disaster 

Eamonn

(Un)Well

This docuseries takes a deep dive into the lucrative wellness industry, which touts health and healing. But do the products live up to the promises?

https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81044208 

At the end of the show a listener question from Nial MacKay 

Recommendations: 

Stuart

‘All The Sinners Bleed’ S.A.Cosby

Investigating the murder of a teacher, the first Black sheriff in the history of Charon County must reckon with the ghosts of his own past as well as those of the community in this powerful Virginia-set thriller from the author of ‘Razorblade Tears'.

The stunning new thriller from the international bestselling, multi-award-winning author.

https://www.waterstones.com/book/all-the-sinners-bleed/s-a-cosby/9781472299130 

Eamonn

‘Burn Motherfucker Burn’ Sasha Jenkins

Explores the root of civil unrest in California and the relationship between African Americans and the LAPD.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6175670/ 

Ruth

‘Best Interests” BBC

A family faces a choice no parent wants to make. When your child is desperately ill, who decides what happens next? Heartbreaking drama with Sharon Horgan and Michael Sheen.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001mwrc 

‘Football and how to survive it’ Pat Nevin.

The former footballer and author of the acclaimed The Accidental Footballer recounts his turbulent tenure as both player and Chief Executive of Scottish First Division side Motherwell in this rollicking, eye-opening and moving account of running a professional football club.

https://www.waterstones.com/book/football-and-how-to-survive-it/pat-nevin/9781800961487 

At the end of the show a listener question from Alasdair MacIver on ‘Partial’ reporting.

Recommendations:

Stuart:

RIP Gordon McQueen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f6Q-TC8tCyc 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/63920277 

Eamonn:

Netfilx - Arnold

https://www.netflix.com/tudum/articles/arnold-schwarzenegger-documentary-release-date-trailer-news 

Paddy:

David Squires

https://www.theguardian.com/profile/david-squires 

Polker Face - Now TV

https://www.nowtv.com/ie/online/poker-face/iYEQZ1vXy2NqyL7Pkni8HA/seasons/1/episodes/1/A5EK3JRJfAvH9w6h9eHqm 

At the end of the show a listener's question from Rodger Hyam on BBC Verify

Recommendations:

Eamonn:

David Grann 'The Devil and Sherlock Holmes

https://www.davidgrann.com/book/the-devil-and-sherlock-holmes/ 

Michael:

'The Offer' 

https://tv.apple.com/us/show/the-offer/umc.cmc.4vfyyn1lemjp494nznhmpeium 

https://www.paramountplus.com/shows/the-offer/ 

The Real Anthony Fauci: Bill Gates, Big Pharma, and the Global War on Democracy and Public Health - Children's Health Defense (Hardback) Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (author)

https://www.waterstones.com/book/deluxe-boxed-set-the-real-anthony-fauci/robert-f-kennedy/9781510774117

Stuart:

Can the Wrexham effect help sell a Scottish Soccer Team

https://www.sportico.com/leagues/soccer/2023/wrexham-effect-scottish-club-st-johnstone-1234725121/

Welcome to Wrexham

https://www.disneyplus.com/en-gb/series/welcome-to-wrexham/4NwOxyDF4T3A

Recommendations:

ANDREA :

Obituary: Legendary & Trailblazing Mezzo-Soprano Grace Bumbry Dies at 86

https://operawire.com/obituary-legendary-trailblazing-mezzo-soprano-grace-bumbry-dies-at-86/ 

1)Talking Derry Girls podcast on The Big Light Network.

https://www.thebiglight.com/talkingderrygirls 

2) Edinburgh International Festival, the first by new Scottish Director, Nicola Benedetti, which has the theme, 'Where Do We Go From Here?' 

https://www.eif.co.uk/ 

EAMONN: 

New Film - AIR, available on Amazon.

Directed by Ben Affleck. Cast includes Viola Davis and Matt Damon .

The film follows the history of shoe salesman Sonny Vaccaro, and how he led Nike in its pursuit of the greatest athlete in the history of basketball, Michael Jordan. 

https://press.amazonstudios.com/us/en/original-movies/air

STUART: 

Weak Teeth - Excellent debut novel by Edinburgh-based writer, LYNSEY MAY, exploring lost love, grief ...and toothache 

https://birlinn.co.uk/product/weak-teeth/ 

This week: The Deposit Return Scheme, Whattsapp Boris, and Glasgow goes clean. At the end of the show the trio share their media recommendations.

Recommendations:

Eamonn

White House Plumbers

https://www.skygroup.sky/article/trailer-released-for-the-limited-series-white-house-plumbers-exclusively-available-on-sky-and-now 

Stuart

James Crawford Wild History

https://birlinn.co.uk/product/wild-history/ 

Joyce

Pitlochry Festival Theatre

https://pitlochryfestivaltheatre.com/ 

Recommendations:

Eamonn:

Dublin Narcos

The new three-part docu-series tells the story of how Dublin transformed from a recession-blighted city in the 1980’s to a growing metropolis in the 1990’s. As its fortune changed, so too did its criminals. They spotted new opportunities. Those opportunities were sourcing and selling a succession of illegal substances – heroin, ecstasy and cocaine. As these drugs exploded in popularity, they came to redefine life and crime in Ireland, making millions for some, while fuelling a rise in addiction, violence and organised crime for many others. 

https://www.skygroup.sky/article/-watch-official-trailer-for-sky-original-dublin-narcos-set-to-broadcast-on-sky-documentaries-this-march- 

Kevin:

The Stones and Brian Jones

A look at the relationships and rivalries within The Rolling Stones in their formative years, as well as the creative musical genius of Brian Jones, key to the success of the band.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001m0sm 

Steeltown Murders

As the CID reopen an investigation into three murders from 1973, DCI Paul Bethell tries to piece together a past that has haunted both him and a community for almost 30 years. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p0fhkqgc/steeltown-murders-series-1-episode-1 

Stuart:

Thomas Crown Affair (1968)

Steve McQueen stars as a sophisticated but bored tycoon who pulls off a bank heist so stunning that even Boston's finest are baffled. Faye Dunaway is the sleek insurance investigator out to bring him in but who, ultimately, falls in love with him.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/video/detail/0R9Y5OYWLJOUN1H7E0192SY5KS?ref_=dvm_uk_sl_tit_mkw_srC8FZASrkY-dc&mrntrk=pcrid_657138592452_slid__pgrid_151485978169_pgeo_9046946_x__adext__ptid_kwd-379848772479&gclid=CjwKCAjw67ajBhAVEiwA2g_jEP4hAt_dqAV4gMcs7dtcSKhmma5ZJQpknU2mxxMbOIH8dipJwxyGxRoC9BYQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds 

Recommendations:

ANDREA :

Obituary: Legendary & Trailblazing Mezzo-Soprano Grace Bumbry Dies at 86

https://operawire.com/obituary-legendary-trailblazing-mezzo-soprano-grace-bumbry-dies-at-86/ 

1)Talking Derry Girls podcast on The Big Light Network.

https://www.thebiglight.com/talkingderrygirls 

2) Edinburgh International Festival, the first by new Scottish Director, Nicola Benedetti, which has the theme, 'Where Do We Go From Here?' 

https://www.eif.co.uk/ 

EAMONN: 

New Film - AIR, available on Amazon.

Directed by Ben Affleck. Cast includes Viola Davis and Matt Damon .

The film follows the history of shoe salesman Sonny Vaccaro, and how he led Nike in its pursuit of the greatest athlete in the history of basketball, Michael Jordan. 

https://press.amazonstudios.com/us/en/original-movies/air

STUART: 

Weak Teeth - Excellent debut novel by Edinburgh-based writer, LYNSEY MAY, exploring lost love, grief ...and toothache 

https://birlinn.co.uk/product/weak-teeth/ 

Recommendations

Stuart:

Future Economy Scotland is a non-partisan think tank that aims to create a new economy that is democratic, sustainable and just. We believe that Scotland cannot overcome the intertwined challenges it faces by making minor tweaks to the status quo. Instead, we must embrace bold new ideas to transform the economy.

https://www.futureeconomy.scot/ 

Simon:

Barry stars Bill Hader as a depressed, low-rent hitman from the Midwest. Lonely and dissatisfied in his life, he reluctantly travels to Los Angeles to execute a hit on an aspiring actor. Barry follows his “mark” into an acting class and ends up finding an accepting community in a group of eager hopefuls within the LA theater scene. 

https://www.hbo.com/barry 

The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the CIA, and the Rise of America's Secret Government (Paperback)

https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-devils-chessboard/david-talbot/9780008159689 

Eamonn:

The Counteroffensive with Tim Mak

A war correspondent's open notebook, reporting live from Ukraine.

https://counteroffensive.substack.com/?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=web&utm_campaign=reader2&utm_source=%2Fsearch%2Fcounter%2520offensive&utm_medium=reader2 

Recommendations:

Stuart:

Dear Mama

A deeply personal five-part series that defies the convention of traditional documentary storytelling to share an illuminating saga of mother and son Afeni and Tupac Shakur

https://www.hulu.com/series/dear-mama-61e513d4-488f-4b1f-b404-f8a33458fca8

Catriona:

Sudden Mystery Arse Pain - The Blindly Podcast

A deep dive art history podcast about the colours red and blue.

https://play.acast.com/s/blindboy/suddenmysteryarsepain

Valley Heat - Starburns Audio

Freelance insurance adjuster Doug Duguay uses his self-honed investigative skills to chronicle suspicious activities around his home and neighborhood in the Rancho Equestrian District of Burbank, California. Soundtrack by local Burbank band Cephalopods Are People.

https://open.spotify.com/show/0giR38mH8XjlrQKzkIJHOI

Sheku Bayoh: The Inquiry - The Ferret

In the early hours of Sunday, 3 May 2015 Police Scotland officers were called to Kirkcaldy in Fife after a Sheku Bayoh had been seen holding a knife. While restrained by up to six officers, he stops breathing. Many details of what happened that morning are in dispute. His devastated family are still searching for answers. They claim he is Scotland’s George Floyd. Police refute this.

Now a public inquiry – launched in May last year – is trying to find out what really happened.

https://theferret.scot/audio-and-podcasts/sheku-bayoh-the-inquiry/

Eamonn:

The Mysterious Mr Lagerfeld

With unique access to Karl Lagerfeld’s inner circle - many having never spoken publicly before - and his beloved cat, this film opens up the extraordinary world of the man known as Kaiser Karl.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001lfff

This week : Today, Our Views on the Scottish News, Murdoch fires Tucker Carlson and The Big Issue Northern edition to close after 30 years.

This week's listener question is from David McParland.

Recommendations:

Stuart: 2022 Booker Prize-winning novel:

The Seven Moons of Maali Almeida by Sri Lankan author, Shehan Karunatilaka. A photographer in the afterlife sets out to expose the carnage of Sri Lanka's Civil Wars, in a novel filled with humour and pathos.

https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-seven-moons-of-maali-almeida/shehan-karunatilaka/9781908745903

Lesley: Blue Lights: Belfast based drama `Blue Lights' follows new police recruits Grace, Annie, and Tommy, as they learn the ropes in a high-pressure environment. Grace is a former social worker who has decided to switch careers in her forties, Annie has had to leave everything she knows behind, and Tommy finds it challenging to be on the frontline. The team deal with divided communities, criminal gangs, and struggle to know who to trust, all the while wondering if they have made the right choice in joining the PSNI.

Blue Lights airs Mondays at 9pm on BBC One, with all episodes available on BBC iPlayer.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-65069989

Lesley’s bibliography

https://www.waterstones.com/author/lesley-riddoch/52415

Lesley podcast

https://lesleyriddoch.com/podcast

Lesley's book 'THRIVE' as referenced in the podcast is available on pre-order now from  https://lesleyriddoch.com/shop-mobile.

Eamonn: New York Times opinion piece by Thomas Friedman:

Why Kamala Harris Matters So Much in 2024

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/25/opinion/kamala-harris-joe-biden-2024-reelection.html

Paul McNamee: Ryuichi Sakamoto 12

The cult Japanese musician and composer Ryuichi Sakamoto is back with all new album, “12”, via Milan Records. The 12 compositions were recorded by Ryuichi Sakamoto in Tokyo during his 2-year long fight with cancer throughout 2021-2022. The album, his 15th so far, is the first of new solo material since 2017. The album’s twelve tracks are titled and sequenced by the dates each were written, culminating in a diary-like collection of music that provides an intimate snapshot into this period of Sakamoto’s life.

https://sakamoto.bandcamp.com/album/12

The Big Issue

https://www.bigissue.com/

This week, as the SNP go from nightmare to nightmare, some parts of the press are in a feeding frenzy as they try to find more sticks to bash Scotland’s governing party. Is there a risk that certain parts of the press have taken their eye off the ball when it comes to legitimate targets?

Fox v Dominion

and

Biden in Belfast.

Recommendations:

Walking Back Home - Ricky Ross

https://www.waterstones.com/book/walking-back-home/ricky-ross/9781472289278

EAMONN: The Irish Times view on Joe Biden’s visit to Northern Ireland: peace as a work-in-progress

The US president reiterated the US commitment to investment in Northern Ireland, signalling that there is a further peace dividend if the Executive can resume its role.

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/editorials/2023/04/12/the-irish-times-view-on-joe-bidens-visit-to-northern-ireland-peace-as-a-work-in-progress/

PADDY: BBC RADIO 4'S ROUND BRITAIN QUIZ (Paddy is a panelist!)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007qxpr/episodes/player

RICKY: THE MORNING SHOW (Apple TV+) Series starring Jennifer Aniston and Steve Carrell about a fictional US daily morning TV show.

https://tv.apple.com/us/show/the-morning-show/umc.cmc.25tn3v8ku4b39tr6ccgb8nl6m

Eamonn is joined by journalist Shana Craven and war correspondent David Pratt.

This week, SNP in crisis, Royal finances exposed and Ukraine files leaked from US Defence Dept.

Recommendations:

EAMONN: BBC Scotland Series: GOLD TOWN

3 part series following gold miners in the Scottish Highlands

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000t3lq 

SHONA - podcast - A VERY BRITISH CULT - 8 x 30min episodes about the Life Coaching company that takes over your life.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m001krb2/a-very-british-cult 

DAVID - book - JACKSON POLLOCK - An American Saga.

The 1989 biography of abstract expressionist painter, Jackson Pollock, by Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith. It was awarded the 1991 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography.

This week, Trump goes to Court, Suella Braverman denies Brexit and the Scottish Tories seem keen to get the Better Together Band back on tour....

Recommendations:

RUTH: 1) Best-selling novel - LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY by BONNIE GARMUS - about women's lives, careers and struggle for empowerment in the late 1950s and early 60s.

https://www.waterstones.com/book/lessons-in-chemistry/bonnie-garmus/9781804990926

RUTH: 2) The new (final) season of SUCCESSION, starring Brian Cox

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Succession-The-Complete-Third-Season/dp/B09NCK8CDB

SHONA: YOU TUBE video - How General Motors Killed the First Modern Electric Car

https://www.reddit.com/r/elonmusk/comments/10hutpf/how_general_motors_killed_the_first_modern/

EAMONN: BEAR GRYLLS MEETS PRESIDENT ZELENSKY.

Bear Grylls travels across Ukraine to meet the President and meet and learn from the people who are enduring their winter of darkness.https://www.channel4.com/programmes/bear-grylls-meets-president-zelenskyy

This week, Humza Yousaf becomes Scotland´s first First Minister, MI5 Spy reveals secret IRA talks as N.I. terrorist threat level hits severe and ´Trump, God and Guns´.

Recommendations:

SHONA - book by Hannah Barnes: Time to Think- the inside story of the collapse of the Tavistock’s Gender Service for Children.

https://www.waterstones.com/book/time-to-think/hannah-barnes/9781800751118

PADDY- book -RULE NOSTALGIA- by Hannah Rose Woods - A Backwards History of Britain.

https://www.waterstones.com/book/rule-nostalgia/hannah-rose-woods/9780753558744

EAMONN - new NYTimes article by Eli Saslow : ‘A Sandwich Shop - a Tent City & an American Crisis

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/24/podcasts/sandwich-shop-homeless-crisis-jeanette-wells-iraq.html

This week, The DUP reject the Windsor Framework, Boris appears before Privileges Committee, Met Police slammed in report and a listener's question about communications officers in party politics. At the end of the show, the trio share their media recommendations.

To listen to the full hour-long episode, and for a full list of recommendations, join the Talk Media Club (99p per week + VAT): patreon.com/talkmedia

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At the end of the show the duo share their media recommendations.

Recommendations:

Stuart - Unspeakable Scotland 

The Buck Ruxton Murders - top Scottish crime writer, Val McDermid tells Janice Forsyth the true story of the horrific double murder carried out by Indian-born, Lancaster-based doctor, Buck Ruxton.

https://www.thebiglight.com/unspeakablescotland/ 

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/unspeakable-scotland/id1513910595?i=1000501546580

Eamonn - MADOFF : The Monster of Wall Street.

4-part NETFLIX docuseries which follows the rise and fall of financier,Bernie Madoff, who orchestrated one of the biggest Ponzi schemes in Wall Street history.

https://www.netflix.com/gb/title/81466159 

To listen to the full hour-long episode, and for a full list of recommendations, join the Talk Media Club (99p per week + VAT): patreon.com/talkmedia

To listen to the full hour-long episode, and for a full list of recommendations, join the Talk Media Club (99p per week + VAT): patreon.com/talkmedia

To listen to the full hour-long episode, and for a full list of recommendations, join the Talk Media Club (99p per week + VAT): patreon.com/talkmedia

After I’ve joined the club, how do I listen? Download the Patreon app (iOS/Android) and login with your account details.

For more information about Talk Media, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

To listen to the full hour-long episode, and for a full list of recommendations, join the Talk Media Club (99p per week + VAT): patreon.com/talkmedia

After I’ve joined the club, how do I listen? Download the Patreon app (iOS/Android) and login with your account details.

For more information about Talk Media, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

To listen to the full hour-long episode, and for a full list of recommendations, join the Talk Media Club (99p per week + VAT): patreon.com/talkmedia

After I’ve joined the club, how do I listen? Download the Patreon app (iOS/Android) and login with your account details.

For more information about Talk Media, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

To listen to the full hour-long episode, and for a full list of recommendations, join the Talk Media Club (99p per week + VAT): patreon.com/talkmedia

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For more information about Talk Media, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

RECOMMENDATIONS:

EAMONN: 'STUTZ' - Netflix documentary - compelling mental health documentary in which Hollywood star, Jonah Hill has frank discussions with psychologist, Phil Stutz, who wrote the NY Times best-selling book, 'The Tools' netflix.com/title/81387962 

STUART: 'The Best of William Bell' - 3 album collection of tracks by the great Memphis singer - on Ace Records acerecords.co.uk/the-best-of-william-bell 

DARREN - THE LAST OF US - on NOW TV (also first episode available to watch free on YouTube.) HBO TV adaptation of the popular video game of the same name, set in a post-apocalyptic USA www.nowtv.com/watch/the-last-of-us

For more information about Talk Media, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

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For more information about Talk Media, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

To listen to the full hour-long episode, and for a full list of recommendations, join the Talk Media Club (99p per week + VAT): patreon.com/talkmedia

After I’ve joined the club, how do I listen? Download the Patreon app (iOS/Android) and login with your account details.

For more information about Talk Media, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

To listen to the full hour-long episode, and for a full list of recommendations, join the Talk Media Club (99p per week + VAT): patreon.com/talkmedia

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For more information about Talk Media, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

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What did these events mean for the media? How were they covered and what impact did they have? Listen to find out.

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Series 6 begins on Wednesday 11 January 2023.

For more information about Talk Media, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia 

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For more information about Talk Media, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

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For more information about Talk Media, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

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For more information about Talk Media, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

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For more information about Talk Media, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

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For more information about Talk Media, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

To listen to the full hour-long episode, and for a full list of recommendations, join the Talk Media Club (99p per week + VAT): patreon.com/talkmedia

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For more information about Talk Media, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

To listen to the full hour-long episode, and for a full list of recommendations, join the Talk Media Club (99p per week + VAT): patreon.com/talkmedia

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For more information about Talk Media, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

To listen to the full hour-long episode, and for a full list of recommendations, join the Talk Media Club (99p per week + VAT): patreon.com/talkmedia

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For more information about Talk Media, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

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For more information about Talk Medial, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

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Stuart is joined by Professor Eamonn O'Neill and mezzo-soprano, Andrea Baker. Their conversation is wide ranging, with extensive commentary on black music & culture and US politics.

Buy Stuart's book here: birlinn.co.uk/product/hey-america/

Join the Talk Media Club here: www.patreon.com/talkmedia

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For more information about Talk Media, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

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For more information about Talk Media, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

To listen to the full hour-long episode, and for a full list of recommendations, join the Talk Media Club (99p per week + VAT): patreon.com/talkmedia

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For more information about Talk Media, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

To listen to the full hour-long episode, and for a full list of recommendations, join the Talk Media Club (99p per week + VAT): patreon.com/talkmedia

After I’ve joined the club, how do I listen? Download the Patreon app (iOS/Android) and login with your account details.To listen to the full hour-long episode, and for a full list of recommendations, join the Talk Media Club (99p per week + VAT): patreon.com/talkmedia

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For more information about Talk Media, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

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For more information about Talk Media, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

The News Agents podcast: www.globalplayer.com/podcasts/42KuVj/ 

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For more information about Talk Media, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

Series 5 of Talk Media starts on 31 August. Thank you to all of our listeners and supporters.

Tickets for Blethered Live at SWG3 with Aimen Dean - Tue 30 August:: https://www.ticketmaster.co.uk/blethered-live-tickets/artist/5388843

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For more information about Talk Media, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

Series 5 of Talk Media starts on 31 August. Thank you to all of our listeners and supporters.

To listen to the full hour-long episode, and for a full list of recommendations, join the Talk Media Club (99p per week + VAT): patreon.com/talkmedia

After I’ve joined the club, how do I listen? Download the Patreon app (iOS/Android) and login with your account details.

For more information about Talk Media, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

To listen to the full hour-long episode, and for a full list of recommendations, join the Talk Media Club (99p per week + VAT): patreon.com/talkmedia

After I’ve joined the club, how do I listen? Download the Patreon app (iOS/Android) and login with your account details.

For more information about Talk Media, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

To listen to the full hour-long episode, and for a full list of recommendations, join the Talk Media Club (99p per week + VAT): patreon.com/talkmedia

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For more information about Talk Media, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

Tickets for Steve’s Fringe show, ‘Rock'n'Roll Politics’: tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/steve-richards-presents-rock-n-roll-politics

DoubleDown News video discussed ('Peter Oborne Absolutely DESTROYS Boris Johnson'): doubledown.news/watch/2022/july/11/peter-oborne-absolutely-destroys-boris-johnson-everything-that-made-him-possible

To listen to the full hour-long episode, and for a full list of recommendations, join the Talk Media Club (99p per week + VAT): patreon.com/talkmedia

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For more information about Talk Media, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

Tickets for Steve’s Fringe show, ‘Rock'n'Roll Politics’: tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/steve-richards-presents-rock-n-roll-politics

DoubleDown News video discussed ('Peter Oborne Absolutely DESTROYS Boris Johnson'): doubledown.news/watch/2022/july/11/peter-oborne-absolutely-destroys-boris-johnson-everything-that-made-him-possible

To listen to the full hour-long episode, and for a full list of recommendations, join the Talk Media Club (99p per week + VAT): patreon.com/talkmedia

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For more information about Talk Media, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

Leanne’s podcast, The Leanne Wood Podcast: soundcloud.com/leanne-wood-557622011

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For more information about Talk Media, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

To listen to the full hour-long episode, and for a full list of recommendations, join the Talk Media Club (99p per week + VAT): patreon.com/talkmedia

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For more information about Talk Media, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

To listen to the full hour-long episode, and for a full list of recommendations, join the Talk Media Club (99p per week + VAT): patreon.com/talkmedia

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For more information about Talk Media, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

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Jonathon’s article, ‘Something Doesn’t Add Up’: jonathonshafi.substack.com/p/something-doesnt-add-up

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Great Scot! - thebiglight.com/greatscot

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For more information about Talk Media, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia 

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Mhairi Black’s speech (published by PoliticsJOE): youtube.com/watch?v=nVZ3QwA5wy8&t=67s

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To listen to the full hour long episode, and for a full list of recommendations, join the Talk Media Club (99p per week + VAT): www.patreon.com/talkmedia

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For more information about Talk Media, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

To listen to the full hour-long episode, and for a full list of recommendations, join the Talk Media Club (99p per week + VAT): patreon.com/talkmedia

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To listen to the full episode, join the Talk Media Club (99p per week + VAT): patreon.com/talkmedia

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For more information about Talk Media, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

To listen to the full hour-long episode, and for a full list of recommendations, join the Talk Media Club (99p per week + VAT): patreon.com/talkmedia

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To listen to the full hour-long episode, and for a full list of recommendations, join the Talk Media Club (99p per week + VAT): patreon.com/talkmedia

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For more information about Talk Media, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

To listen to the full hour-long episode, and for a full list of recommendations, join the Talk Media Club (99p per week + VAT): patreon.com/talkmedia

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To listen to the full hour-long episode, and for a full list of recommendations, join the Talk Media Club (99p per week + VAT): patreon.com/talkmedia

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To listen to the full hour-long episode, and for a full list of recommendations, join the Talk Media Club (99p per week + VAT): patreon.com/talkmedia

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The Coming Storm podcast (BBC Sounds): www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001324r

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Neil Mackay’s Herald article: ‘How Scottish Labour can change the game when it comes to independence’ - www.heraldscotland.com/politics/19836718.neil-mackay-scottish-labour-can-change-game-comes-independence/

Don’t Look Up (Adam McKay film) on Netflix: www.netflix.com/title/81252357

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How do I listen to the show? Join the club and then download the Patreon app. Or, copy and paste the new RSS feed (in the welcome email from Patreon) into a podcast app (more info here: support.patreon.com/hc/en-us/articles).

Episodes will be published on Wednesday evenings. We will be advertising each show on social media. Previous shows will continue to be available via: thebiglight.com/talkmedia 

If you any questions, email: talkmedia@thebiglight.com 

As of next week, all future episodes of Talk Media will be published via Patreon. Sign up here (99p per week): www.patreon.com/talkmedia

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Susan:

1. ‘O Caledonia’ - novel by Ellspeth Barker (“Barker’s dazzling, gothic coming-of-age story reflects the refuge and joy to be found in nature and literature amidst an isolated life, as richly resonant today as at the time of its original publication. Republished in 2021. It's been described as "one of the best overlooked novels that should be read by everyone.") www.waterstones.com/book/o-caledonia/elspeth-barker/maggie-ofarrell/9781474620512
2. ‘There Is Nothing For You Here’ - book by Fiona Hill (“Trump’s former Russia adviser charts her journey from County Durham to DC, showing how populism thrives when communities are abandoned.”) www.waterstones.com/book/there-is-nothing-for-you-here/fiona-hill/9780358574316

Stuart: ‘The Tragedy of Macbeth’ - film - American drama written and directed by Joel Coen, based on Shakespeare's play. Starring Denzel Washington and Frances McDormand. Scheduled for a limited release on Xmas Day, prior to streaming on Apple TV+ on 14th January. a24films.com/films/the-tragedy-of-macbeth

Eamonn:

1. ‘The Ponds’ - Netflix documentary (“Winter or summer, rain or shine, swimmers frequent the ponds at London's Hampstead Heath throughout the year. These are their stories.”) www.netflix.com/title/81409006
2. ‘A Castle for Christmas’ - Cheesy Netflix film set in Scotland! www.netflix.com/title/81026181

First published: 8/12/21

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Eamonn: Nick Broomfield documentary, ‘My Father and Me’ (“Documentary filmmaker, Nick Broomfield, takes a distinctly personal look at his relationship with his humanist-pacifist father, Maurice Broomfield, a factory worker turned photographer of vivid images of postwar England.”) https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000thyl

Stuart: Stuart is looking forward to visiting the Pantheon in Paris to pay his respects to Josephine Baker, the French-American civil rights activist, music hall superstar and second world war resistance hero, who has become the first Black woman to enter France’s Panthéon mausoleum of revered historical figures – taking the nation’s highest honour at a moment when tensions over national identity and immigration are dominating the run-up to next year’s presidential race. More info: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/nov/30/black-french-american-rights-activist-josephine-baker-enters-pantheon

Afua: ‘You Got Anything Stronger?’ - New book of stories by New York Times best-selling author, Gabrielle Union - https://www.harpercollins.com/products/you-got-anything-stronger-gabrielle-union?variant=39325216112674.

For more information about Talk Media, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

Tickets for Blethered - live with Darren McGarvey and Karen Dunbar: www.gigsinscotland.com/artist/blethered-by-sean-mcdonald

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Stuart: 'Wormwood' - Netflix documentary ("In this genre-bending tale, Errol Morris explores the mysterious death of a U.S. scientist entangled in a secret Cold War program known as MK-Ultra.") - www.netflix.com/title/80059446

Eamonn: '100 Foot Wave' - HBO documentary (“A look at the decade-long odyssey of big-wave pioneer Garrett McNamara to ride a 100-foot wave.”) - www.sky.com/watch/title/series/645c11a8-d070-4a80-95f0-dfea85969219

Michael:

1. 'Murder in the Bush: Storyville: Cold Case Hammarskjöld' ("Storyville documentary. Mads Brügger and Göran Björkdahl investigate the mysterious death of Dag Hammarskjöld, the United Nations secretary-general killed in a plane crash in 1961.") - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000bpkm
2. 'The Line' on Apple TV ("In covert modern warfare, the line between right and wrong has blurred. This docuseries examines the moral ambiguities of war as embodied by the 2018 case in which a US Navy SEAL platoon accused its chief, Eddie Gallagher, of war crimes.") www.apple.com/tv-pr/originals/the-line/

For more information about Talk Media, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Eamonn: Sky documentary - 'The Witness (2016)' ("In 1964, The New York Times printed an article stating that Kitty Genovese was murdered while 38 witnesses did nothing. Fifty years later, her brother reinvestigates.") - https://www.sky.com/watch/title/programme/1d190c78-e00f-445d-985b-d20ac360d13e

Stuart: Monday's Scotland v Denmark World Cup Qualifier match - A specific highlight of the match at 32m 20s which harks back to the Scottish origins of the passing game.  

Shona: 'Things Fell Apart' - new Jon Ronson podcast on BBC Sounds ("A series of strange, unexpected human stories from the history of the culture wars.") - https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/series/m0011cpr

For more information about Talk Media, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

Listen and subscribe to COP26 Daily: www.thebiglight.com/cop26

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Stuart: Esquire magazine article by Mick Brown, 'Teenage Dreams: My Life as a Soul Boy' ("Writer Mick Brown reflects on his enduring fixation with Motown, soul and R&B, and encounters with greats such as James Brown and Aretha Franklin"). https://www.esquire.com/uk/culture/a38185595/soul-history-motown-singers/

Eamonn: Book, 'Affluenza' ("Psychologist, Oliver James' 2007 book - still relevant today. There is currently an epidemic of 'affluenza' throughout the world - an obsessive, envious, keeping-up-with-the-Joneses - that has resulted in huge increases in depression and anxiety among millions. Over a nine-month period, bestselling author, Oliver James, travelled around the world to try and find out why.") https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/102/1021521/affluenza/9780091900113.html

Andrea: Netflix 6 part series - 'Colin in Black & White' - Netflix Series: 'COLIN IN BLACK & WHITE' (An exploration of former NFL player, Colin Kaepernick's, high school years and experiences that led him to become an activist. American six-episode fictionalized drama series, narrated by Colin Kaepernick.) www.netflix.com/title/80244479

For more information about Talk Media, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

Listen and subscribe to COP26 Daily: www.thebiglight.com/cop26

Recommendations :

David Pratt: Film: 'MOSUL (Netflix)' (After being rescued by an Iraqi SWAT team from an assault by insurgents, a policeman joins the team and is thrown into a world of secrecy and ceaseless, fierce fighting.) www.netflix.com/title/81041495

Stuart Cosgrove: Netflix Series: 'COLIN IN BLACK & WHITE' (An exploration of former NFL player, Colin Kaepernick's, high school years and experiences that led him to become an activist. American six-episode fictionalized drama series, narrated by Colin Kaepernick.) www.netflix.com/title/80244479

Eamonn O'Neill: Guardian - 'The Long Read by Poppy Sebag-Montefiore. How two BBC journalists risked their jobs to reveal the truth about Jimmy Savile' www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2021/nov/02/jimmy-savile-bbc-journalists-risked-jobs-reveal-truth

For more information about Talk Media, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

Subscribe to COP26 Daily via: www.thebiglight.com/cop26

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Joyce:

1. ‘The Enemy’ - National Theatre of Scotland's new touring production (“A radical re-imagining of ‘An Enemy of the People’, the classic Henrik Ibsen play about truth, power and deception. By Kieran Hurley, award-winning playwright and originator of the critically acclaimed Scottish indie film, ‘Beats’”) - www.nationaltheatrescotland.com/events/the-enemy
2. ‘Vienna: The International Capital’ - new book by Angus Robertson, MSP (“Vienna is unique amongst world capitals in its consistent international importance over the centuries. From the ascent of the Habsburgs as Europe's leading dynasty to the Congress of Vienna, which reordered Europe after Napoleon, to bridge-building summits during the Cold War, it is the Austrian capital that has been the scene of key moments in European and world affairs.”) - birlinn.co.uk/contributor/angus-robertson/

Stuart: ‘Harmonic Spectrum’ - Scottish BAFTA nominated short film (“A stunning short film about music and autism. A contender for the Bafta Scotland Short Film Award.”) - available soon, for now here’s the trailer youtu.be/Yor5Pwqrq2Y - www.scottishdocinstitute.com/films/harmonic-spectrum/

Eamonn:

1. ‘The Challenge’ - eight-episode documentary series about the fight of Spanish military police, the Guardia Civil, against the terrorist group for the independence of the Basque Country known as ETA - available on Amazon Prime -www.amazon.com/The-Challenge-ETA-Season-1/dp/B08JFTRCTH
2. ‘An Enemy of the People’ - another adaptation of Ibsen's play! A film starring Steve McQueen - www.mcqueenonline.com/aeotphv.htm

For more information about Talk Media, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Steve: ‘The Odyssey’ by Homer (“The epic tale of Odysseus and his ten-year journey home after the Trojan War forms one of the earliest and greatest works of Western literature.”) - www.waterstones.com/book/the-odyssey/homer/peter-jones/9780140449112

Eamonn: ‘John Lewis: Good Trouble’ - documentary (“Representative John Lewis fights for civil rights, voting rights, gun control, health care reform and immigration.”) - www.amazon.co.uk/John-Lewis-Good-Trouble/dp/B089M54WFD/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3OOXTH24CMJMS&dchild=1&keywords=john+lewis+good+trouble&qid=1634742054&s=dvd&sprefix

Stuart: ‘The Maradona method may offer Bank’s ratesetters a helping hand’ - Times article by David Smith - www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-maradona-method-may-offer-bank-s-ratesetters-a-helping-hand-rpb2nsgzl

First published: 20/10/21

Alex’s Times article: www.thetimes.co.uk/article/scotland-is-poorly-served-by-an-incurious-bbc-d39d3xzdm

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Stuart: ‘The Family Roe’ - book by Joshua Prager (Norton Press)’ ('“A masterpiece of reporting on the Supreme Court’s most divisive case, Roe v. Wade, and the unknown lives at its heart.”) https://wwnorton.com/books/9780393247718

Eamonn: ‘Taste: My Life Through Food’ - book by Stanley Tucci (“From award-winning actor and food obsessive Stanley Tucci, comes an intimate and charming memoir of life in and out of the kitchen.”) https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Taste/Stanley-Tucci/9781982168018

Ruth:

1. ‘Harlem Shuffle’ - novel by Colson Whitehead https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/608669/harlem-shuffle-by-colson-whitehead/
2. ‘Dog Days: A Year with Olive & Mabelby Andrew Cotter’ (“Andrew Cotter takes you behind the scenes and into the pages of his diary to reveal just how extraordinary a year it has been, and what really happened after his lockdown superstar Labradors chewed up the internet and found it was quite tasty.”) https://www.oliveandmabelbook.com/order-the-book.html

For more information about the podcast, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Stuart: ‘Unbelievable’ - Netflix series (‘After a young woman is accused of lying about a rape, two female detectives investigate a spate of eerily similar attacks. Inspired by true events.’) - www.netflix.com/gb/title/80153467

Shona: ‘Squid Game’ - Netflix series (‘Hundreds of cash-strapped players accept a strange invitation to compete in children's games. Inside, a tempting prize awaits — with deadly high stakes.’) - www.netflix.com/gb/title/81040344

Eamonn: ‘The Forecaster’ - film on Amazon Prime (‘A man designs a model that can predict the future. He calculates developments in the world economy with eerie accuracy and even the outbreak of wars. Until the FBI is on his doorstep...’) - www.amazon.co.uk/Forecaster-Martin-Armstrong/dp/B07Z3ZJ7TX

For more information about Talk Media, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

Times article referenced in listener question segment: thetimes.co.uk/article/21dc9e5a-1e20-11ec-b8f6-2f9fbbeddc5b?shareToken=6cb66cb7e87397f5b61ea9c305b1b8f9

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Stuart:

1. Trailer for ‘The Tragedy of Macbeth’ starring Denzel Washington (in theatres December 25, streaming on Apple TV+ January 14) - www.youtube.com/watch?v=HM3hsVrBMA4
2. ‘Brian Cox Has No Sympathy for His Filthy-Rich Family on ‘Succession’’ - New York Times article - www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/09/28/magazine/brian-cox-interview.html

Eamonn: ‘Inside America’s Treasure House: The Met’ - documentary series filmed inside America's biggest art museum as it prepares for its 150th anniversary, only to endure closure due to Covid, demands for greater diversity and financial disaster - www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000znvd

For listener questions and more info, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Stuart: ‘Harlem Shuffle’ - 2021 novel by American author, Colson Whitehead (the follow-up to Whitehead's 2019 novel, ‘The Nickel Boys’, which earned him his second Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.) A work of crime fiction and a family saga that takes place in Harlem between 1959 and 1964 - www.waterstones.com/book/harlem-shuffle/colson-whitehead/9780708899441

Eamonn: ‘Shackleton’ - book by Ranulph Fiennes (discover the story of Ernest Shackleton's legendary Antarctic expedition through the words of the world's greatest living explorer, Sir Ranulph Fiennes - one of the only men to understand his experience first-hand) - www.waterstones.com/book/shackleton/ranulph-fiennes/2928377066765

Afua: ‘The Other Black Girl’ - book by Zakiya Dalila Harris (described as one of the books of the year - think Get Out meets The Devil Wears Prada) - www.waterstones.com/book/the-other-black-girl/zakiya-dalila-harris/9781526630377

For more information about Talk Media, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Stuart: ‘For My Journalism Students, Much Of 9/11 Is A Case Study Of What Not To Do’ - article by Eileen McNamara - www.wbur.org/cognoscenti/2021/09/09/never-forget-journalisms-mistakes-after-september-eleventh-eileen-mcnamara

Eamonn: ‘A Prison Diary’ book series by Jeffrey Archer - www.goodreads.com/series/60789-a-prison-diary

Michael: ‘The Power of Geography’ - book by Tim Marshall - www.waterstones.com/book/the-power-of-geography/tim-marshall/9781783965373

For more information about Talk Media, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Stuart: ‘Worth’ - drama film on Netflix - www.netflix.com/gb/title/80226212

Joyce: ‘Islander’ - film available via Dundee Rep - dundeerep.co.uk/whats-on/islander

Eamonn: ‘The Jaws Log: Expanded Edition (Shooting Script)’ - book by Carl Gottlieb - harpercollins.co.uk/products/the-jaws-log-expanded-edition-shooting-script-carl-gottlieb?variant=39320266571854

For more information about the podcast, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Stuart: ‘RIZZIO’ - book by Denise Mina - birlinn.co.uk/product/rizzio/

Andrea: ‘Singin' & Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas’ - book by Dr Maya Angelou - www.waterstones.com/book/singin-and-swingin-and-gettin-merry-like-christmas/dr-maya-angelou/9781844085033

Eamonn:

1. ‘Restrepo: Outpost Afghanistan’ - documentary available on Apple TV - tv.apple.com/gb/movie/restrepo/umc.cmc.5dn6s5wjx0xed4i06e35zcuym?action=play
2. Photo of U.S. Army Major General Chris Donahue leaving Afghanistan - ‘Leaving Afghanistan, U.S. general's ghostly image books place in history’ www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/leaving-afghanistan-us-generals-ghostly-image-books-place-history-2021-08-31/

For more information about Talk Media, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Stuart: ‘Designated Survivor’ - drama series on Netflix - www.netflix.com/gb/title/80113647

Eamonn: ‘The Boys In The Boat: An Epic Journey to the Heart of Hitler's Berlin’ - book by Daniel James Brown’ - www.waterstones.com/book/the-boys-in-the-boat/daniel-james-brown/9781447210986

Jane: ‘Borges and Me: An Encounter’ - book by Jay Parini - www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/621066/borges-and-me-by-jay-parini/

For more information about Talk Media, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Stuart: ‘Untold: Malice at the Palace’ - documentary on Netflix - www.netflix.com/gb/title/81026439

Eamonn: ‘Write Around The World’ - travel series presented by Richard E. Grant on BBC4 - www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p09nldzc

David: ‘Afghan Napoleon: The Life of Ahmad Shah Massoud’ – book by Sandy Gall, with intro by Rory Stewart - www.waterstones.com/book/afghan-napoleon-the-life-of-ahmad-shah-massoud

For more information about Talk Media, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

Over the next few months, they're going to be answering your questions about the media, the podcast and other topical subjects. Be inventive, creative and serious. Go to thebiglight.com/talkmedia and complete the contact form to get in touch with us.

For more information about the podcast, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

For more information about the podcast, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

For more information about the podcast, visit: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia 

For more information about the podcast, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

Note: We’re taking a 4-week summer break. In the meantime, we’ll be releasing previously recorded bonus episodes on the main feed. Be sure to keep up to date with the show across all of our social media channels. Stuart and Eamonn will be back on Wednesday 18th August for the first episode of series 3! Enjoy the sunshine.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Stuart: ‘Summer of Soul’ - film directed by Questlove - www.imdb.com/title/tt11422728/ (check cinemas for screenings)

Afua: ‘Philly DA: Breaking the Law’ - documentary series on BBCiPlayer - www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m000xcvj/philly-da-breaking-the-law

Eamonn: ‘Death in the Dordogne: The Dordogne Mysteries’ - book by Martin Walker - www.waterstones.com/book/death-in-the-dordogne/martin-walker/martin-walker/9781784299408

For more information about Talk Media, visit: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Stuart: ‘Repentance’ - book by by Eloísa Díaz -www.goodreads.com/book/show/56149991-repentance

Eamonn: Hoax: ‘Donald Trump, Fox News, and the Dangerous Distortion of Truth’ - book by Brian Stelter - www.simonandschuster.com/books/Hoax/Brian-Stelter/9781982142452

Dorothy: ‘To Throw Away Unopened’ - book by Viv Albertine - www.waterstones.com/book/to-throw-away-unopened/viv-albertine/9780571326228

For more information about Talk Media, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

Vote for Talk Media in this year’s Listeners’ Choice Award (Great British Podcasts): www.britishpodcastawards.com/vote

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Stuart: ‘Changes: An Oral History of Tupac Shakur’ - book by Sheldon Pearce - www.amazon.co.uk/Changes-Oral-History-Tupac-Shakur/dp/1982170468/ref=nodl_ 

Shona: ‘Ghosts’ - book by Dolly Alderton - www.waterstones.com/book/ghosts/dolly-alderton/9780241434543

Eamonn:

1. 'Murder at the Cottage: The Search for Justice for Sophie' - documentary available on Sky Crime - www.sky.com/watch/murder-at-the-cottage
2. ‘Sophie: A Murder in West Cork’ - documentary available on Netflix - www.netflix.com/title/81094755

For more information about Talk Media, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

Help the Scottish Crannog Centre build towards a new future - www.justgiving.com/campaign/crannog

Brian Wilson’s article: www.stornowaygazette.co.uk/business/please-bbc-give-us-back-a-decent-radio-highland-like-it-used-to-be-3271370

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Stuart: "The best front cover of a Scottish newspaper, celebrating's Scotland's victory..." on Wednesday 23rd June.

Eamonn: ‘Exercised: 'The Science of Physical Activity, Rest and Health’ - book by Daniel Lieberman - www.penguin.co.uk/books/305/305451/exercised/9780141986364.html

Ken: POLITICO’s London Playbook - ‘What's driving the day in Westminster. Politics and policymaking in the UK capital’ - www.politico.eu/newsletter/london-playbook/

For more information about Talk Media, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

Tasnim’s campaign for diversity: www.tasnimnazeer.com/my-campaign-for-diversity-gets-response-from-ofcom/

Follow Tasnim on Twitter: @TasnimNazeer1

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Stuart: ‘A History of the Hollywood Chronicle in 10 Books’ - New York Times article - www.nytimes.com/2021/06/11/books/a-history-of-the-hollywood-chronicle-in-10-books.html

Tasnim: ‘Friends: The Reunion’ - available on Now TV - www.nowtv.com/watch/friends-the-reunion-2021/A5EK5anvvYyhYNqokgCJC

Eamonn:

1. ‘He opted to skip graduation and work a shift at Waffle House. His boss was not having it: ‘I was going to get him there no matter what’ - Washington Post article - www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2021/06/14/graduation-waffle-house-teen-work/
2. ‘Hear My Song’ - film available on Amazon Prime - www.amazon.co.uk/Hear-My-Song-Adrian-Dunbar/dp/B01J4DUDKU

For more information about Talk Media, visit: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Stuart: ‘The Criminals Thought the Devices Were Secure. But the Seller Was the F.B.I.’ - New York Times article - www.nytimes.com/2021/06/08/world/australia/operation-trojan-horse-anom.html?login=email&auth=login-email

Paddy: ‘Mississippi Burning’ - 1988 film starring Gene Hackman and Willem Defoe - available on Amazon Prime - www.amazon.co.uk/Mississippi-Burning-Gene-Hackman/dp/B01JQURZCA

Eamonn: ‘Stallone: Frank, That Is’ - documentary available on Amazon Prime - www.amazon.co.uk/gp/video/detail/amzn1.dv.gti.fabaf355-43bd-1eec-2d95-60115e45adc3?autoplay=1&ref_=atv_cf_strg_wb

Paddy's 2015 book, 'Do You Know Who's Dead?: A hilarious celebration of what makes us Irish' - www.amazon.co.uk/You-Know-Whos-Dead-celebration/dp/1473606721

For more information about Talk Media, visit: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Stuart: ‘1919 Magazine’ - Scotland’s justice and social affairs magazine - 1919magazine.co.uk/

• Buck Ruxton case - listen to Val McDermid tell the story: www.thebiglight.com/unspeakablescotland

Joyce: ‘The Macbeths’ - new filmed version available from Citizens Theatre - www.citz.co.uk/whatson/info/the-macbeths-online-streaming

Eamonn: ‘Has an Old Soviet Mystery at Last Been Solved?’ - New Yorker article by Douglas Preston - www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/05/17/has-an-old-soviet-mystery-at-last-been-solved

Bonus episodes are available via Patreon – join the Talk Media Club to access extra interviews with guests and in-depth discussions about significant media issues: www.patreon.com/talkmedia

For more information about Talk Media, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

Bonus episodes are available via Patreon - join the Talk Media Club to access extra interviews with guests and in-depth discussions about significant media issues: www.patreon.com/talkmedia

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Stuart: ‘Atlantic: A Scottish Story’ - 8-part musical drama series from Noisemaker and The Big Light network. Subscribe now to be the first to listen to each episode - www.thebiglight.com/atlantic

Lesley:

1. ‘The Pact’ - 6-part drama - available on BBCiPlayer - www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p09cwbzf
2. The Nevers - drama series on Sky Atlantic - www.sky.com/watch/title/series/dabfb2bb

Eamonn: ‘The Billionaire Who Wasn't: How Chuck Feeney Secretly Made and Gave Away a Fortune’ - book by Conor O’Clery - www.waterstones.com/book/the-billionaire-who-wasnt/conor-oclery/9781610393348

For more information about Talk Media, go to: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Stuart: [Recommended to Stuart by @couldasaid on Twitter] ‘Collective: Unravelling a Scandal’ - Storyville on BBCiPlayer - www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000tpzn

Steve:

1. ‘Dubliners’ - book narrated by Andrew Scott - available on Audible - www.audible.co.uk/pd/Dubliners-Audiobook/0241429544
2. ‘Fawlty Towers’ on BBCiPlayer - www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/b006xxvg/fawlty-towers

Eamonn: ‘The Splendid and the Vile: Churchill, Family and Defiance During the Bombing of London’ - book by Erik Larson - www.waterstones.com/book/the-splendid-and-the-vile/erik-larson/9780008274986

For more information about Talk Media, visit: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Stuart: ‘Mandy Harris Williams Is Challenging You To #BrownUpYourFeed’ - Huffington Post feature - www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/mandy-harris-williams-ideal-black-female_n_607cfddae4b0eac4813f6368

Angela: ‘Three Families’ - 2-part series on BBC One - www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000w0sn

Eamonn: ‘Nike’s Big Bet’ - documentary available on Sky - www.imdb.com/title/tt14403518/

For more information about Talk Media, visit: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

The New Yorker piece, ‘Nicola Sturgeon’s Quest for Scottish Independence’: www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/05/10/nicola-sturgeons-quest-for-scottish-independence

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Stuart: ‘This Time with Alan Partridge’ - BBC1 series - www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0002v3d

Eamonn: ‘The Donut King’ - film directed by Alice Gu - www.donutkingmovie.com

Andrea: ‘What White People Can Do Next: From Allyship to Coalition’ - book by Emma Dabiri - www.waterstones.com/book/what-white-people-can-do-next/emma-dabiri/9780141996738

For more information about Talk Media, visit: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

A.L. Kennedy’s new paperback, We Are Attempting To Survive Our Time: www.penguin.co.uk/books/111/1118128/we-are-attempting-to-survive-our-time/9781529111446.html

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Stuart: ‘Summer of Soul’: See First Trailer for Questlove’s Film About Lost 1969 Fest’ - film covered in Rolling Stone magazine - www.rollingstone.com/movies/movie-news/summer-of-soul-questlove-trailer-1160927/

Eamonn: ‘The Richard Dimbleby Lecture - Gregory Doran: Is Shakespeare Chinese?’ - www.youtube.com/watch?v=5V90VnAKHJQ

Alison: ‘A Most Remarkable Creature’ - book by Jonathan Meiburg - www.penguin.co.uk/books/110/1109385/a-most-remarkable-creature/9781847923561.html

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Stuart: 'Different League: The Derry City Story' - BBC documentary - https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000vcdr/different-league-the-derry-city-story

Allan: 'Brain fog: how trauma, uncertainty and isolation have affected our minds and memory' - Guardian article by Moya Sarner - https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2021/apr/14/brain-fog-how-trauma-uncertainty-and-isolation-have-affected-our-minds-and-memory

Eamonn: 'Is the Church Racist?' - Panorama on BBCiPlayer - https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000vc34/panorama-is-the-church-racist

Allan's website: https://renniemedia.co.uk

For more information about Talk Media, visit: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

Stuart: ‘How To Get Away With Murder’ - series on Netflix - www.netflix.com/title/80024057

Isabel:

1. ‘Klara and the Sun’ - book by Kazuo Ishiguro - www.waterstones.com/book/klara-and-the-sun/kazuo-ishiguro/9780571366217
2. ‘The Tyranny of Merit’ - book by Michael J. Sandel - www.penguin.co.uk/books/313/313112/the-tyranny-of-merit/9780241407592.html

Eamonn: ‘The Worricker Trilogy’ - series on Amazon - www.amazon.co.uk/The-Worricker-Trilogy-Season-01/dp/B00JXN3V74

For more information about Talk Media, visit: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Stuart: ‘Revealed: the truth about the peers who are born to rule’ - Sunday Times report - www.thetimes.co.uk/article/revealed-the-truth-about-the-house-of-lords-peers-who-are-born-to-rule-nbdvcfrv3

Calum: ‘Ant and Dec’s Saturday Night Takeaway’ - www.itv.com/saturdaynighttakeaway

Eamonn: ‘Pilgrimage’ - BBC2 series - www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09w7lc0

Times Radio: www.thetimes.co.uk/radio

Follow Calum on Twitter: @CalumAM

For more information about Talk Media, visit: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

Listen to Scotland's Street Orchestra: www.thebiglight.com/scotlandssreetorchestra

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Andrea:

1. ‘Ghosts’ - theatre show app - written and directed by Adura Onashile - www.nationaltheatrescotland.com/events/ghosts
2. Serge Hovey - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serge_Hovey

Eamonn: Yo-Yo Ma’s cello performance at a vaccine centre - www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/mar/14/cellist-yo-yo-ma-gives-impromptu-performance-at-covid-vaccine-centre

Stuart: ‘Murder in a Small Town’ - Channel 5 two-part documentary - www.channel5.com/show/murder-in-a-small-town-2/

Andrea Baker: https://www.singsistahsing.com

For more information about Talk Media, visit: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Stuart: 'The Ali-Frazier 1971 ‘Fight of the Century’ provided cover for a mission to expose the FBI' - Washington Post article - https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2021/03/07/ali-frazier-fight-century-cointelpro/

Joyce: 'Sound Stage' plays (Pitlochry Theatre and Lyceum) - https://pitlochryfestivaltheatre.com/sound-stage-2021/

Eamonn: 'Harry and Meghan: The union of two great houses, the Windsors and the Celebrities, is complete' - Irish Times article - https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/tv-radio-web/harry-and-meghan

Follow Joyce on Twitter: @joycemcm

Support the podcast and gain access to bonus content: www.patreon.com/talkmedia

Keep up to date with the show on Twitter: @TBLTalkMedia

For more information about the podcast, visit: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Stuart: 'The time is right to cancel Dr. Seuss’s racist books' - Washington Post article by Ron Charles - https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/dr-seuss-books

Alison:

1. 'Blown Away' - Netflix series - https://www.netflix.com/title/80215147
2. 'Canine Intervention' - Netflix series - https://www.netflix.com/title/81152839

Eamonn: 'The Way I See It' - documentary, available on Amazon - https://www.amazon.com/Way-I-See-Dawn-Porter/dp/B08KYK4VPD

Follow A.L. Kennedy on Twitter: @Writerer

Support the podcast and gain access to bonus content: www.patreon.com/talkmedia

Keep up to date with the show on Twitter: @TBLTalkMedia

For more information about the podcast, visit: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

RECOMMENDATIONS: 

Stuart: ‘Renegades: Born in the USA’ - a new spotify podcast featuring conversations between President Barack Obama and Bruce Springsteen - open.spotify.com/show/42xagXCUDsFO6a0lcHoTlv?si=vdRe132AR7e12jakQhQqAw

Eamonn: ‘Framing Britney Spears’ - documentary by Samantha Stark and The New York Times - www.nowtv.com/watch-framing-britney-spears-documentary

Sean: ‘Out To Lunch with Jay Rayner’ - podcast with celebrity chef Jay Rayner - play.acast.com/s/outtolunchwithjayrayner

Follow Sean on Twitter: @seanmcdonald01

Listen to ‘Blethered’ on The Big Light network: www.thebiglight.com/blethered

For more information about Talk Media, visit: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

Mandy's article: 'Something Rotten' (Holyrood Magazine) - https://www.holyrood.com/editors-column/view,something-rotten

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Stuart: 'Forensics: The Real CSI' - documentary series on BBC2 ('Multiple cameras follow serious crime investigations in real time, revealing the crucial role cutting-edge forensic science now plays in bringing criminals to justice') - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0004p7f

Mandy:

1. 'PARASITE' - the 2019 South Korean black comedy thriller film directed by Bong Joon-ho, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Han Jin-won. It won the leading four awards at the 92nd Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best International Feature Film, becoming the first non-English language film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. Available to watch on Amazon Prime Video - https://www.amazon.co.uk/Parasite-Song-Kang-Ho/dp/B085S4G21R
2. 'Dogs Behaving (Very) Badly' – Channel 5 - https://www.channel5.com/show/dogs-behaving-very-badly/

Eamonn: 'Breslin and Hamill: Deadline Artists' - 2018 film about the lives and careers of celebrated journalists, Jimmy Breslin and Pete Hamill, and their takes on the most jaw-dropping events of the 20th century. Available on Sky Documentaries - https://www.hbo.com/documentaries/breslin-and-hamill-deadline-artists

Follow Mandy on Twitter: @holyroodmandy

Support the podcast and gain access to bonus content: www.patreon.com/talkmedia

Keep up to date with the show on Twitter: @TBLTalkMedia

For more information about the podcast, visit: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Stuart: Mary Wilson - listen to The Supremes - (BBC News report following her death) www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-55993045

Paddy: Seth Meyers' segment of his Late Night show on NBC, ‘A Closer Look’: https://www.youtube.com/user/LateNightSeth

Eamonn: ‘The Happy Traitor: Spies, Lies and Exile in Russia: The Extraordinary Story of George Blake’ - book by Simon Kuper - www.goodreads.com/book/show/51458168-the-happy-traitor

Follow Paddy on Twitter: @PaddyDuffy

Support the podcast and gain access to bonus content: www.patreon.com/talkmedia

Keep up to date with the show on Twitter: @TBLTalkMedia

For more information about the podcast, visit: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Stuart: ‘Presidents come and go, but these curtains are forever’ - Washington Post article - www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/home/oval-office-curtains-biden/2021/01/30/987f59b4-5f51-11eb-afbe-9a11a127d146_story.html

Eamonn: ‘Off the Rails’ - Axios audio - www.axios.com/off-the-rails-episodes-cf6da824-83ac-45a6-a33c-ed8b00094e39.html

Shona: ‘Scabby Queen’ - book by Kirstin Innes - www.waterstones.com/book/scabby-queen/kirstin-innes/9780008342296

Support the podcast and gain access to bonus content: www.patreon.com/talkmedia

Keep up to date with the show on Twitter: @TBLTalkMedia

For more information about the podcast, visit: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Stuart: ‘Call My Agent’ - Netflix series - www.netflix.com/title/80133335

Omid:

1. ‘Cobra Kai’ - Netflix series - www.netflix.com/title/81002370
2. ‘Masterclass’ featuring Carols Santana - www.masterclass.com/classes/carlos-santana-teaches-the-art-and-soul-of-guitar

Eamonn: ‘What Would Sophia Loren Do'?’ - Netflix documentary - www.netflix.com/title/81404845

Omid’s website: www.omidnoagenda.com

For more information about Talk Media, visit: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Stuart: ‘One Night in Miami’ - film on Amazon Prime - www.amazon.co.uk/gp/video/detail/amzn1.dv.gti.e8badd0e-9d87-

Andrea: ‘AJ and the Queen’ - Netflix series - www.netflix.com/title/80237329

Eamonn: ‘Denial’ - film on Amazon Prime - www.amazon.co.uk/gp/video/detail/amzn1.dv.gti.feacede7-cb3a-a5f7-311f

Andrea’s website: andreabaker.org

Support the podcast and gain access to bonus content: www.patreon.com/talkmedia

Keep up to date with the show on Twitter: @TBLTalkMedia

For more information about the podcast, visit: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Stuart: Vogue’s cover featuring Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris - www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-55631499

Eamonn: ‘Pretend It’s a City’ - Netflix series - www.netflix.com/title/81078137

Catriona:

1. ‘The Comey Rule’ - two-part series - www.sky.com/watch/title/series/91a48d7d-7a66-4b3f-81c5-ad25dd9d33d5/the-comey-rule
2. Robert Moore's report from inside the US Capitol on January 6 (ITV) - www.itv.com/news/2021-01-12/storming-the-capitol-itv-news

Support the podcast and gain access to bonus content: www.patreon.com/talkmedia

Keep up to date with the show on Twitter: @TBLTalkMedia

For more information about the podcast, visit: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Note: Talk Media series 2 starts on Wednesday 13th January 2021.

For more information about Talk Media, visit: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

Previous recommendations (from episode 1 with Marianne Taylor):

Marianne: 'Unfree Speech' - book by Joshua Wong and Jason Y. Ng - https://www.audible.co.uk/pd/Unfree-Speech-Audiobook/0753557959

Eamonn: Agnelli' - HBO documentary - https://www.hbo.com/documentaries/agnelli

Stuart: 'Who Killed Malcolm X?' - Netflix series - https://www.netflix.com/title/80217478

Support the podcast and gain access to bonus content: www.patreon.com/talkmedia

Keep up to date with the show on Twitter: @TBLTalkMedia

For more information about the podcast, visit: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

For more information about Talk Media, visit: www.thebiglight.com/talkmedia