Music streaming services have changed the game. We hear about their impact on artists' income from Tom Gray of the 90s British band Gomez. Plus, Merck Mercuriadis, whose music investment company Hipgnosis is spending billions of dollars buying

Will the Olympics be postponed (again)?

Feb 3rd, 2021 18m 35s

Uncertainty continues to mount over this summer's delayed Tokyo Olympic Games, as Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announces he is extending a coronavirus state of emergency in Tokyo and nine other areas through March. Last year's unpreced

Kidnap in the Gulf of Guinea

Jan 27th, 2021 18m 17s

Is there a new piracy crisis afflicting Africa's shipping lanes? And should the merchant ships in the region now be armed? Four men boarded a Turkish-crewed container ship out at sea in the Gulf of Guinea in West Africa on Saturday - they kille

Biden's $15 minimum wage

Jan 22nd, 2021 18m 39s

The new US president's plan to introduce a $15 minimum wage has sparked debate. Manuela Saragosa speaks to Allynn Umel, campaign director at the Fight for $15 campaign, about why a federal rise in wages is overdue. Jacob Vigdor, professor of pu

Who owns colour?

1 Jan 15th, 2021 17m 27s

Scientists, artists and some of the world’s biggest companies are carving up the visual spectrum, and claiming certain colours as their own, so who does have a right to use the colours of the rainbow? We explore the ongoing rift over the worlds

Predicting the future of retail

Jan 6th, 2021 17m 27s

With much of the world going back into stringent lockdowns and people warned away, or even outright banned, from physical stores and malls, some observers are suggesting this might be the moment online retail takes the dominant position. Others

Thinking global, acting local

Jan 4th, 2021 18m 20s

Lessons in rethinking the climate emergency from Sierra Leone and the US. We hear from mayor of Freetown Yvonne Aki-Sawyerr on her plans to plant a million trees, and make climate change relevant to the citizens of the rapidly urbanising capita

Casual dining in a pandemic

Dec 30th, 2020 18m 35s

Necessity is the mother of invention and Elizabeth Hotson finds out how restaurants and other food outlets - some of the most obvious casualties of the pandemic - have adapted to survive in 2020. We hear from Michael Ward, managing director of

Lockdown lunches

Dec 29th, 2020 18m 33s

How have our eating habits changed during a year when lockdowns have seen more of us cooking from home and fewer of us sharing meals out with colleagues? And can Zoom calls replace the networking coffee or dinner? Elizabeth Hotson speaks to one

Has the time come for a 4-day working week?

Dec 22nd, 2020 18m 47s

Unilever in New Zealand is the latest firm to trial a 4-day week without cutting pay. Manuela Saragosa speaks to Paddy Gamble, the CEO of Perpetual Guardian which manages trusts, wills and estate planning. A couple of years ago they put their

Industry awards - worth the effort?

1 Oct 24th, 2019 18m 13s

Does coming second in a prestigious professional competition still boost the bottom line? Is it worth the time, money and emotional investment?Manuela Saragosa visits Pied-a-Terre, a one-star Michelin restaurant, and speaks to its owner David M

Can technology read minds?

1 Sep 6th, 2019 18m 10s

The business of brain data. Real-life mind-reading technology is being developed right now, and it's already being used in places like China. Ed Butler investigates what the technology can really do, and what the implications might be for our p

Vanuatu's missing women

1 Aug 6th, 2019 18m 22s

What happens when a country has an all-male parliament? Vanuatu is one of only three countries on the planet with zero female elected representatives. We find out why only men win votes in Vanuatu and what that means for the economy. Next year

How the military controls Myanmar's economy

Feb 2nd, 2021 18m 34s

Myanmar's military has announced it has taken control of the country, a decade after agreeing to hand power to a civilian government. Tin Htar Swe OBE, Myanmar analyst and former editor of the BBC Burmese Service, recounts the history leading u

Gamestop: Is it really a case of David vs Goliath?

Feb 1st, 2021 17m 31s

What is Wall Street's role in the surge in Gamestop's share price? It’s been billed as a populist revolt against the financial behemoths of Wall Street: a global gang of small investors driving up the price of Gamestop shares, forcing losses on

The pandemic pet boom

Jan 29th, 2021 17m 29s

Homeworking has led to booming pet sales. What happens when people head back to the office? Sales of dogs, cats and all sorts of other pets have soared in the developed world over the past year amid lockdowns. It’s great news for pet care busin

The economic cost of closing schools

Jan 28th, 2021 17m 28s

The economic costs of school closures amidst the pandemic could be huge. 2 billion school days have been missed so far around the world, and millions more are to come. Experts are warning of a lost generation with many children losing key skill

Gorillas, guns and oil

Jan 26th, 2021 17m 28s

Virunga National Park in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is Africa’s oldest and largest wildlife park. Since 1925, it’s been home to some of the last mountain gorillas on earth. But it’s also home to armed militia groups and an ongoing bat

Covid: Rethinking wealth and fairness

Jan 25th, 2021 18m 17s

How the Covid pandemic is changing the way we see wealth and economic fairness. The Covid pandemic has not only changed the way we work. It’s also exposed how little we value the kind of work that’s kept economies afloat amid lockdowns. We hear

Joe Biden vs climate change

Jan 20th, 2021 17m 28s

How the US is set to return to the fight against global warming. Justin Rowlatt speaks to Todd Stern, the US special envoy for climate change under Barack Obama, and to Rache Kyte, dean of the Fletcher School at Tufts University in the US, abou

Is Covid causing a shortage of medical oxygen?

Jan 19th, 2021 17m 28s

Amidst rising Covid infection levels, we're looking at one alarming threat to health services from Brazil to Egypt - a lack of medical oxygen. Hospitals have been reporting running out altogether, with some critical care patients dying as a res

Should Trump be banned from social media?

Jan 13th, 2021 17m 28s

President Trump's ban from various social media raises the question of their regulation. Are they right to ban him, and what are the implications? We ask Nancy Mace, a newly elected Republican representative of South Carolina. Cory Doctorow, bl

Forced labour in supply chains

Jan 12th, 2021 18m 19s

China is forcing hundreds of thousands of Uighurs and other minorities into hard, manual labour in the vast cotton fields of its western region of Xinjiang, according to BBC reports. As a result, apparel companies are facing mounting pressure t

What makes Elon Musk tick?

Jan 8th, 2021 17m 28s

Elon Musk, the space pioneer and electric car guru, now ranks as one of the world's richest men, thanks to a surge in the value of shares in his company Tesla. In an interview from 2014, he tells the BBC's chief environment correspondent Justin

Can the Democrats make economic change?

Jan 7th, 2021 17m 28s

The Democrats and President-elect Biden have won control of the US Congress after results came in from two elections in Georgia. Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff defeated Republican incumbents Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue respectively. Mr Bide