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The Inquiry

Latest episodes

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Jul 14, 2015 • 23min

Is Streaming Good for Music?

Streaming has transformed the way millions listen to music. Whether signed up to Spotify, Apple Music or others, music lovers can access tens of millions of tracks instantly and for the monthly cost of one CD. But is this spectacular transformation good for music? Though streaming surely helps artists find new audiences, do those artists get rewarded fairly? And has having a ‘global jukebox’ at our fingertips changed our relationship to music itself?(Photo: Lucy Rose)
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Jul 7, 2015 • 23min

How Easy is it to Dope in Sport?

The global effort to prevent athletes using performance-enhancing drugs is vast and sophisticated. You might think, in this era of advanced testing, it would be almost impossible to cheat and get away with it. But is that really the case? Alberto Salazar, one of the world’s most successful coaches, has been accused of encouraging his athletes to dope. Salazar strongly denies the allegations. But the story has reignited concerns that, despite the efforts of the anti-doping authorities, cheating is still too easy in elite sport. The Inquiry hears from someone who sets the rules, someone who tests the rules and someone who broke the rules to find out if the dopers or the testers are winning. (Photo: The starting line of an athletics track. Credit: Ben Stansall/Getty Images)
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Jun 30, 2015 • 23min

Has Austerity Worked?

The global financial crisis reignited an old debate - is it better to cut spending and raise taxes in an economic downturn, or spend your way out of it? After a period of relative consensus up to 2010, some countries inclined more to austerity (cuts and tax rises), some against. In this edition of The Inquiry we examine whether we now have the evidence to settle this important economic argument.(Photo: Anti-austerity demonstration. Credit: Zak Kaczmarek/Getty Images)
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Jun 23, 2015 • 23min

Would Greece Be Better Off Out of the Euro?

Despite the tense and increasingly bitter negotiations between Greece and its European creditors - who the Greek government accuse of demanding intolerable austerity – most Greek people want their country to stay in the euro currency union. But there are some, including within the governing Syriza party, who think Greece might ultimately be better off going it alone, and returning to the drachma. There would be serious pain, no doubt. But, in the longer term, might Greece be better off out of the euro? (Photo: A man walks by a zero Euro graffiti.Credit: AFP/Getty Images)
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Jun 16, 2015 • 23min

What Does China Want From Space?

Fifteen years ago, manned space flight was still a dream for China. Now, they are looking to the moon. They have mastered space walking, they are building advanced scientific satellites in partnership with the European Space Agency, and they are constructing their own ‘heavenly palace’ – a space station to rival the ISS. But some, not least the United States, are concerned by possible military uses for China’s blossoming space technology. This week our four expert witnesses help us figure out what China really wants from its space programme. (Photo: Chines flag billows with the moon in the background. Credit: Mark Ralston/Getty Images)
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Jun 8, 2015 • 23min

Will Anyone Help the Rohingya?

Shocking images have brought the Rohingya to the world’s attention - boatloads of people drifting aimlessly on the Indian ocean, sustained by bottles of water thrown to them by visiting journalists. The Rohingya are Muslims from western Myanmar – or Burma – who live a life of poverty and exclusion. The government refuses even to recognise their ethnicity. Hoping for better lives in Malaysia, they turned to people smugglers and leaky boats. Will anyone help the Rohingya, one of the most marginalised communities in the world? And, why has even the most famous living Burmese, the icon of democracy and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, refused to speak up on their behalf?(Photo: Myanmar, South East Asia migrant. Credit: Ye Aung Thu/Getty Images)
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Jun 2, 2015 • 23min

Is Opposition to GM Crops Irrational?

Ask a scientist, and they will almost certainly tell you genetically modified food is safe to eat. Yet an awful lot of consumers disagree. Is their fear of GM food irrational? Earlier this year the Pew Foundation released a US poll which suggested 88% of scientists think GM food is generally safe to eat, while only 37% of the public agree. It is the issue on which American scientists and the general public are most divided, more so than climate change or vaccines. If the scientific consensus says it is safe, should we embrace a technology that could help solve hunger and feed the world? Or is GM food a lightning rod for justified concerns about the impact of global agribusiness and industrial food production?(Photo: Ripe wheat in a field. BBC copyright)
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May 22, 2015 • 23min

Who Can Fix Fifa?

Fifa has been described as a “totalitarian” set-up “beyond ridicule” with a leadership “incapable of reform or cultural change”. A corruption report is said to have contained “numerous materially incomplete and erroneous representations”. Many have argued that world football’s governing body is badly in need of reform. So, as Fifa prepares to elect its next president, our question this week: who can fix FIfa? Sponsors and broadcasters provide the vast majority of the body’s income. Could they force change? Fifa relies on the support of regional organisations like Uefa to maintain its hold over world football. Could they put pressure on Fifa’s leadership? Or could the key be new laws in Switzerland, where Fifa is based? And what are the chances of change from within? Examining evidence from experts who know Fifa outside and in, The Inquiry has answers. Presenter: Helena Merriman. (Image:Member of the media wait next to a logo of the Worlds football governing body. Credit:MICHAEL BUHOLZER/AFP/Getty Images)
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May 19, 2015 • 23min

Why Do US Cops Keep Killing Unarmed Black Men?

Recent high profile cases of unarmed black men dying at the hands of the US police have sparked outrage, protests and civil unrest in several American cities. The deaths of Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Walter Scott and Freddie Gray are – some claim – evidence of long-standing problems with police racism and excessive violence. But what do we really know about what’s happening? Our expert witnesses this week explain the issues of racism, bias and police use of force. And the head of President Obama’s taskforce on police reform, Charles Ramsey, tells us that fixing the problem will involve much more than just fixing the police.(Photo: Demonstration in St Louis, Missouri, following the shooting of Michael Brown. Credit: Scott Olson/Getty Images)
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May 12, 2015 • 23min

Why is South Africa Still So Unequal?

The violent riots on the streets of South Africa in recent weeks have seen foreigners killed, their shops looted and 5,000 left homeless. They are accused of taking jobs from locals in a country where high unemployment is a big concern - and an example of the gaping chasm that remains between rich and poor. So 21 years after Nelson Mandela pledged to liberate all South Africans from the continuing bondage of poverty and deprivation, why is South Africa one of the most unequal societies on the planet? (Photo: South African man waves a stick in the air, while demonstrators are chanting. Credit: Stefan Heunis/Getty Images)

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