Journalism

The author and broadcaster presents a powerful, career-spanning collection of his journalism on race, racism and Black life and death from Africa, the Caribbean, Europe and the United States. For three decades, Younge has had a ringside seat at the most significant events and personalities to impact the Black diaspora and recounts these in Dispatches From the Diaspora: accompanying Nelson Mandela on his first election campaign, joining revellers on the southside of Chicago during Obama’s victory and entering New Orleans days after hurricane Katrina. We see him with Maya Angelou in her limousine, discussing politics with Stormzy on his couch and witnessing Archbishop Desmond Tutu almost fall asleep mid-interview. He discusses how much change is possible and the power of systems to thwart those aspirations with author and educator Jeffrey Boakye.

Europe has always been a haven for people fleeing repression, where freedom of the press, freedom of speech and expression are guaranteed. But is that still true? In 2021, the International Federation of Journalists reported that six journalists had been killed that year and 95 others were in prison in Europe. Why does Europe fail to acknowledge the pressure journalists are under in an increasingly violent climate? How can we support journalists in protecting democracy and freedom? Journalists from across Europe discuss the challenges they face.

Our politics – and our politicians – can seem chaotic and confusing, so how do we make sense of what’s happening? Daniel Finkelstein, who has had a long political career in the Conservative Party and who now works as a journalist for The Times, Jess Phillips, MP for Birmingham Yardley, John Crace, parliamentary sketch writer for the Guardian, and editor and journalist Baroness Rosie Boycott help us understand British politics today.

The Taliban takeover of Afghanistan in 2021 has had a huge and negative effect on the country’s women; they are banned from secondary and university education, cannot work for non-governmental organisations, and face increasing restrictions on basic freedoms. Film-maker and journalist Tamana Ayazi speaks to the BBC’s chief international correspondent Lyse Doucet about the reality for women in Afghanistan, and what happens next. Ayazi directed the Netflix documentary In her Hands, which narrates the story of Zafira Ghafari and her fight for human rights when the Taliban took over her country.

The BBC’s Chief International Correspondent and senior presenter Lyse Doucet speaks about how to keep people engaged and what the media can change to make news matter. Doucet has covered news in countries including Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran, and has been on the ground for pivotal moments, including the coalition withdrawal from Afghanistan after the Taliban offensive in the country in 2021, and the war in Ukraine. Doucet has created multiple documentaries over the years, including Children of Syria and Children of the Gaza War. Her lecture is followed by a Q&A with senior international affairs correspondent at the Guardian and Observer Emma Graham-Harrison.

Got a dilemma about love, relationships, social media, friendship, family or sex? Chances are Dolly Alderton (Everything I Know About Love, Dear Dolly) has provided a solution to it – and many other issues – in the years she’s been running her Dear Dolly agony aunt column in The Sunday Times Style. In conversation with Strictly Come Dancing professional Mabuse, Alderton discusses some of her favourite columns, and shares her wisdom on life, love and more.

Take a step behind the most famous door in the UK with Whips, Cleo Watson’s tale of intrigue and scandal. When Bobby Cliveden decides to campaign against the closure of her local mental health unit, she ends up in the heart of the UK’s bustling political centre, and discovers a secret, soft-skilled machinery behind so much political change at the very highest level of government: women. Watson, who worked on President Barack Obama’s re-election in 2012 and served in 10 Downing Street as Theresa May’s political adviser then Boris Johnson’s co-deputy chief of staff, talks to ITV News’ political editor Robert Peston (author of The Whistleblower) about writing fiction based on reality, satirising politics and her unique insight into government.

Evoking the atmosphere of a Morocco on the cusp of change, Leïla Slimani talks about her latest novel, Watch Us Dance, the second in a trilogy inspired by her family, with BBC journalist Razia Iqbal. Set in 1968, the book follows Mathilde, a wealthy woman who has won a battle with her husband to build a swimming pool in their garden. But Mathilde and her family are about to find their lives taking wild and unexpected turns. Slimani is the first Moroccan woman to win France’s most prestigious literary prize, the Prix Goncourt. A journalist and commentator on women’s and human rights, she is French president Emmanuel Macron’s personal representative for the promotion of the French language and culture.