Seriously...

The British countryside is often portrayed as a green and pleasant land - a rural idyll. But under the surface, rural culture wars rage: the Right to Roam, veganism, rewilding. Anna Jones is a farmer’s daughter who has worked as a rural affairs journalist for almost 20 years. In this series she uncovers the personal stories of individuals caught up in these battle grounds. In this episode she meets Alistair Macbeth. In the 2010s he’s working as a touring fire-breather with long dreadlocks and living in a van. He’s also a committed vegan. So how did he go from that to running a dairy farm in the Peak District? Presented by Anna Jones Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Heather Simons and Anna Jones

Anne McElvoy goes on the road in Italy in the latest in her series exploring the convulsions of political and cultural change sweeping through Europe’s great nations. The election last September of the right wing populist Giorgia Meloni shocked the political establishment. Her declared mission: to restore and defend Italy’s national identity. But what does it mean to be an Italian today? We visit Padua in the North Eastern region of Veneto - a city steeped in ancient culture, boasting the oldest university in Europe and the exquisite frescos of the Scrovegni Chapel. It's also at the heart of Italy's more prosperous North - the engine of the country's economy which draws in migrants from inside and outside Italy. A good place to explore the tensions between the old ways and the new which are rumbling through Italian life in the wake of Meloni's election. Touring the city and its regions, we ask Italians from all walks of life - migrant workers, a female-led design and manufacturing business, a demographer and other experts on Italy's political and social culture. How do they see themselves in 2023 and what are the challenges of the future? Why is a country built on the bedrock of the family facing a decline in the birth rate so severe it threatens to wreck the economy? Why is a country whose citizens have emigrated around the world throughout history so uneasy about inward migration? Could a new political era also signal a revival of an Italian economic miracle? Producer: Leala Padmanabhan

Glasgow’s west end is home to the Primrose Path Tattoo Society where ex-service men & women have gravitated to reflect, celebrate and sometimes come to terms with their lives in the military, all while under the artists needle. Tattoos have a long tradition in the military but at the Society, each one is custom designed to reflect the deeply personal and emotional experience. David Selwyn joined the army in 2005 and served on two tours in Afghanistan with 2 Scots, the Royal Highland Fusiliers. He was medically discharged from the army after ten years following a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder and a recurring injury to his shoulder. David has come to the Studio, ahead of Remembrance Day, to get a large and colourful tattoo from artist William Hughes to represent his own army career and the pride in his Regiment. As the artist focuses on his work we share this uniquely intimate relationship where memories good and bad are recalled, shared and sometimes laid to rest. Details of organisations offering information and support with addiction, mental health, or feelings of despair are available at bbc.co.uk/actionline. Thanks to the Primrose Path Tattoo Society Producer: Debbie McPhail Sound Design: Lee McPhail Sound Recording: Murry Collier and Chris Currie Executive Producer: Peter McManus

Kate Mason looks at how potential can be assessed in the world of professional football with Brentford FC player Michael Olakigbe and talent spotter Lee Dykes. From cycling, Dan Bigham tells us how the potential of technology helped him take on the professionals. Cricketing broadcaster and Director of women’s cricket at Surrey, Ebony Rainford Brent, discusses the Ace programme which helps young people from a range of backgrounds find their potential as cricketers.And we also go back to the 1970s to discover a technique to help us improve our own sporting potential. That idea has now also been widely adopted in business.Presenter: Kate Mason Producer: Julian Siddle

American singer-songwriter Doug Levitt expected his tour to last just the six weeks printed on the face of the Greyhound pass he bought. The idea was to compose a fuller portrait of the United States by writing songs about the lives and struggles of fellow riders. That was over 15 years, 100 songs and 150,000 miles back. Travel by Greyhound is a favored lower-cost option for people who are often just scraping by on the margins of society; many living through profound challenges with employment, family relationships, addiction and incarceration. On the bus, after many hours on the road sitting next to a stranger the stories begin to flow. Maybe it’s the hypnotic rumble of the bus wheels beneath. Or sitting side-by-side staring straight ahead into darkness as passing headlights and taillights streak by.Coming from disparate lives, our stories are where we meet, they are the crossroads of human experience. In 2018, Levitt traveled with radio producer David Goren on a cross-country trip for Greyhound Diaries, and again in 2022 and ‘23. Drawing from more than 75 hours of sound recordings we encounter riders, stations, drivers and highways from New York to California and Minnesota to Texas. We hear from Charmaine, a professional care-giver on her way to a job in Wisconsin; Ricky, a father of 6 who transcended teenage fatherhood and the gang life; Ronald, just released from prison after 15 months for drug dealing; and Melissa, who moved her sons away from a violent neighborhood in Chicago. Presented by Doug Levitt Produced by David Goren Songs and instrumentals by Doug Levitt.

In 2013, broadcaster and journalist Krupa Padhy, one of the presenters for BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, lost her first child because of medical negligence in a London Hospital. Legal action was taken. Midwives and doctors were given extra training. Lessons were, apparently, learned. But Krupa's life has been changed forever. Over the last few years, systemic failures at multiple maternity units have been uncovered: at Morecambe Bay, Shrewsbury and Telford and East Kent. An investigation is currently underway in Nottingham and there are calls for a review in Leicester. Krupa wants to know what is happening in our maternity wards and how we make them safer. Producer: Caitlin Smith Researcher: Anna Miles Execs: Peter McManus and Clare Fordham Sound design: Eloise Whitmore

Ex-offender Ricky Gleeson has set up HoodEx, a new sustainable clothing charity in South Shields, Tyne and Wear. Ricky has a remarkable back story – a deeply troubled, chequered past. His mother was in her teens when she had him, a single parent who struggled to cope with life. She became addicted to drugs and alcohol and had a series of difficult relationships. As a child, Ricky was moved from domestic abuse shelters to foster homes and eventually to children’s homes and hostels. He ended up homeless, at times living rough and turning to petty crime. Somehow, he managed to turn his life around. He joined the Royal Navy, took up boxing, became a husband and father and found his way to a new life. And now in his 40s, he wants to help others who are in the same place as he was in. As he struggles to find suitable premises for his charity venture, he revisits some of the keys places in his past life. Producer: Mohini Patel

Mysterious plants appear on the Isle of Rum. Do they prove the island miraculously escaped the Ice Age? And what extraordinary lengths would one scientist go to in order to prove that it did? Dr Tori Herridge investigates. Produced for BBC Audio Bristol by Beth Sagar-Fenton

The Great Replacement is an idea fueling far-right recruitment around the world - the idea that white communities and culture are being purposely replaced by non-white migrants. Many far-right terrorists have referenced this theory as the driving force behind their murderous actions - but where does this idea originate from, and how seriously should we be taking its proliferation here in the UK? Terrorism expert Raffaello Pantucci explores the roots of the Great Replacement and asks if this is just a far-right conspiracy theory as some critics claim, or is there a kernel of truth reflected in the UK's changing demography?If so, how are communities - and the government - managing this change? Immigration is often a difficult topic of public debate, with many people concerned that any questioning of immigration policy will label them as racist.But if we can’t talk more openly, without fear of judgement, are we at risk of handing control of the immigration narrative to extremists? Reporter: Raffaello Pantucci, Senior Fellow at the Royal United Service Institute, Senior Fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore Producer: Jim Frank Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith

Historian Catherine Merridale witnessed the birth of Memorial in 1989 as the Soviet Union died. An organisation devoted to recovering the past of the Soviet Gulag and soon documenting the new transgressions of the Russian state and its imperial wars. Even as Russia wnet to war against Ukraine it sought to close Memorial down, silence its voice and reshape history. But months after the invasion Memorial shared in the Nobel Peace Prize, only adding to the Russian government's ire. It has closed its archives and offices and pursued leading figures in Russian Memorial through the courts, declaring them responsible for 'rehabilitating Nazism'. Merridale tells a personal story of the opening of history that Memorial was essential to and the tragedy of its closing and the closing of the past. The Kremlin's current occupants are no more willing to consider the victims of state repression - largely Stalin's repression - than their Soviet predecessors were. The story of Memorial, the association, established in 1989, that set out to find, investigate and discuss the Soviet Union's record of political violence against its own citizens, is one of real heroism. From its initial aim of creating a physical memorial to Stalin's victims it became a focus for research and advocacy, a living witness to the intellectual freedom that comes after the past is faced. The state argues that what it does - harping on about Stalin's crimes - dilutes great Russian patriotism. Some of its critics have gone as far as to say that Memorial's work helps to justify Nazism. But branches of Memorial in Ukraine and elsewhere in Europe do what they can to keep memory alive. Producer: Mark Burman