Vicky Spratt investigates how people have remained trapped in high interest mortgages since the financial crash of 2008.Some of these so-called ‘mortgage prisoners’ are homeowners who were formerly customers of Northern Rock, a bank which was famously nationalised by the UK Government.Since then, these customers have not been able to move out of their high interest mortgages and many are now living in poverty, and often suffering from poor mental and physical health.There are tens of thousands of ‘mortgage prisoners’ in the UK, and housing journalist Vicky travels to Hartlepool and Blackpool to speak with two of them. She wants to find out how the issue arose and what the Government can do to help.Presenter: Vicky Spratt
Producer: Emily Uchida Finch
Executive Producer: Rosamund Jones
Assistant Producer: Sam Stone
A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4
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28:20
The Landscape Revolution
After Brexit, we left the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy, the CAP. For many people - whatever they made of Brexit - this was a golden opportunity to come up with something better. A NEW farming policy, which would encourage efficient food production while rewarding farmers for environmental work.Nearly a decade later, where have we got to? This is a programme about agricultural policy, so if you're not a farmer you may not think it's for you. But farm policy is also environmental policy and food policy...so the seismic shift that farmers are going though right now will have an impact not just on their lives and businesses, but on the landscapes we see, the food on our plate and price we pay for both.Presented by Charlotte Smith
Produced by Heather Simons
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28:46
Russia's New War Elite
Russians who sign up to fight in Ukraine earn big money in salaries and bonuses – and the Kremlin is even more generous to families of those killed in battle. Average compensation packages for a dead son or husband are worth about £97,000. In less-wealthy Russian provinces, where most recruits are from, that’s enough to turn your life around. Reporter Arsenii Sokolov finds out how the relatives of the tens of thousands of men Russia has lost in the war are spending the money – and asks whether the pay-outs will help create a new “patriotic” middle class that supports Vladimir Putin.Besides the cash, there are many privileges offered to soldiers and their families, and to bereaved relatives of the fallen. Their children can go to university whatever their grades. And the Kremlin has started a programme called “Time of Heroes” that claims it will fast-track selected returning servicemen into elite positions in local politics and business. But can Putin’s attempt at social engineering really work? And will “deathonomics” – as one economist calls it – really boost the economy of the provinces that have suffered most from the huge death toll?Presenter: Arsenii Sokolov
Producer: Tim Whewell
Sound engineer: Neil Churchill
Production Co-ordinator: Gemma Ashman
Editor: Penny Murphy
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29:27
The Choice: How Assisted Dying Works
California is one of ten US states where assisted dying is lawful and in some respects it’s a model for how the practice might work in Britain.Introduced in 2016, it’s available to those who are terminally ill and are expected to die within six months. Patients must self administer the lethal medication - the same as what’s proposed in England and Wales. BBC Medical editor Fergus Walsh travels to San Diego to meet 80 year old Wayne who’s planning to end his life. He’s terminally ill with heart failure and in excruciating pain from a severely damaged spine.“I just don't see any merit to dying slow and painfully and hooked up with intubation and feeding tubes. I want none of it,” he said. The programme hears from doctors and patients on both sides of the argument. Opponents warn assisted dying is putting the vulnerable at risk such as people with disabilities or mental illness. Michelle Carter is 72 and has advanced cancer. She believes people should have a choice but has completely ruled out having an assisted death“Suicide dying is not for me..I choose palliative care. I have God and I have good medicine,” she said. There are important differences between the law in California and what is proposed here. Patients can get access to lethal medication in 48 hours in California. If assisted dying is legalised in England and Wales, it will take about a month for terminally ill patients to be approved.Across California, around 1 in every 300 deaths is now medically aided. But in Canada assisted dying accounts for around 1 in 20 deaths - that’s 15 times the rate in California - and one of the highest in the world. The law was introduced in 2016 - the same as California - and is open to those with an incurable medical condition which causes intolerable suffering. Initially it was just for the terminally ill, but that requirement has been dropped. In Canada, nearly all medically assisted deaths are carried out by doctors who inject the lethal dose. Fergus meets one doctor who has helped hundreds of people to die. She says she sees it as a “ sacred duty.” But another tells him that Canada has “fallen off a cliff” when it comes to assisted dying and that it is being used as an alternative to social or medical support. Finally Fergus returns to California to witness Wayne end his life surrounded by his wife and children. “I’m all in. I’ve never had any question about it,” Wayne tells himReporter: Fergus Walsh
Producers: Paul Grant and Camilla Horrox
Technical Producer: David Crackles
Production Management Assistant: Katie Morrison
Editor: Clare Fordham
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28:44
The Price of Equality
Thousands of female council workers across Britain have lost out on pay and benefits worth billions because of unequal pay over decades. Now claims for compensation and demands to reform pay and grading threaten to capsize council finances, upset male council workers and cause massive cuts to local services.
Anushka Asthana investigates why such pay discrimination is still happening despite being illegal for the last fifty years. And she discovers what the price of equality might actually be, for the women seeking it and the millions of us living in places where our local council has ignored the problem for years.
Presenter: Anushka Asthana
Producers: Jonathan Brunert and Leela Padmanabhan
UK