A raw and intimate perspective on the terror, anger, and hope of living through war.As bombs hit ever closer to her home in central Gaza, Hanya Aljamal spots her elderly neighbour tending to his garden. “He's been raking the earth,” she says, “prepping the soil for new seeds. Given everything that's already happening, it's quite interesting seeing him do that right now. I mean, if grandpa thinks it's a good time to put seeds in, then I don't know, maybe there's hope.”In audio diaries sent from her balcony over four months, Hanya sees impromptu volleyball matches, flying shrapnel, and a hastily constructed tent village as Israel expands its military action. But after she questions whether she will live to see the end of the conflict, a fragile peace is finally agreed and Hanya’s personal situation changes dramatically.Producer/presenter: Simon Maybin
Editor: Clare Fordham
Sound mix: Gareth Jones
Production co-ordinator: Katie Morrison
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Playing Spies
The words "spy ring" conjure up images straight from the enigmatic literary worlds of John le Carre and Graham Greene.
But the recent prosecutions of a group of Bulgarians and the arsonists who set fire to a warehouse containing communications equipment for Ukraine, suggest a new, less glamorous front in the hidden world of espionage.
Necessity is the mother of invention and the expulsion of Russian spies combined with sanctions on the technology of modern warfare have seen a move away from traditional "foreign agents".
Communication platforms like Telegram are enabling the remote commissioning of low-level criminality - acts of sabotage and information gathering. Often, these outsourced agents are not even aware of who they're working for.
They are, as the Director General of MI5, Sir Ken McCallum would have it "Playing Spies" and they are entirely disposable.
Author and journalist Gordon Corera considers this new ecosystem of state interference and the dangerous players who are more Slow Horses than shaken not stirred.
He hears from investigative journalist Roman Dobrokhotov, Head of Counter Terrorism Policing Dominic Murphy, Senior Associate Fellow at the Royal United Services Institute Matthew Redhead and Daniela Richterova, Senior Lecturer in Intelligence at the Department of War Studies at King's College London.
Police and Crime Commissioner for Suffolk Tim Passmore gives us his take on fears that Russia's drone war is having a direct impact on farmers in the UK. Presented by Gordon Corera
Produced by Kev Core
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If at First You Don’t Secede
A lot has happened since the 2014 Scottish independence referendum.The Conservatives have been deposed at Westminster. Labour — the political force that once dominated Scottish politics — is back in power. Reform is eating into both parties' votes. The SNP has been in government in Scotland for 18 years and is expected to win next year’s Holyrood election. But the last decade has been a trying one for the party. How has Scotland's appetite for independence changed over the years? And if nothing's changed significantly in the polls why then is independence central to the SNP's electoral campaign strategy for the 2026 Holyrood election?
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I Fought in Ukraine
Its thought over 2000 Brits have fought in the Ukraine war. May of them are seasoned soldiers, veterans of Afghanistan, Syria and Northern Ireland who are just taking on another call of duty. There are others who have never picked up a gun before but gave up their day jobs to join the fight against RussiaNick Garnett meets the soldiers to find out why they have given up jobs, said a goodbye to families to go and fight for a country they don't belong to.Nick will find out about the changing face of war in Ukraine how the trained soldiers have encountered a whole new way of combat such as drones
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From Anglesey with Love
In the summer of 2020, Radio 4 producer Polly Weston found herself at Nathan Gill’s house. She’d been sent by a random postcode generator, for an episode of The Patch. What followed was a wide-ranging interview about his life and career, how he became involved in UKIP, his involvement in campaigning for Brexit, and his subsequent responsibilities in the Brexit party after they stormed to victory in the 2019 European elections. But the interview also happens to cover the period he was taking bribes to make statements in favour of Russia. One year after this interview, Counter Terrorism detectives entered this same house, and they found evidence which contributed to his recent conviction for eight counts of bribery. “Officers found evidence on his devices that showed how Gill was in contact another individual in Ukraine and that Gill had agreed that, in exchange for money, he would make certain statements that were supportive of pro-Russia media being present in Ukraine. Detectives identified eight such instances between January 2018 and February 2020.”Gill pleaded guilty to eight counts of bribery in September, and faces sentencing on the 21st November – he is expected to receive a prison sentence. This is his story, up to the time of the events which led to his conviction, as told by the man himself.Produced and Presented in Bristol by Polly Weston
Editor Chris Ledgard
UK