Seriously...

Presenter Anita Anand joins comedian Shaparak Khorsandi and author Andrew Scott Cooper to explore the tragic life, death and legacy of Princess Leila Pahlavi, the last Princess of Imperial Iran. Leila was the daughter of Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and the last in a long line of Iranian Royalty. But when the 1979 revolution began, Leila and her family were forced to escape. Leila spent the rest of her life in exile and while she had a brief career as a model and 90s It Girl, she tragically died alone in a London hotel. In this episode, we trace her story and the monumental impact it’s left on the Iranian community. Producer: Rufaro Faith Mazarura Editor: Ailsa Rochester Sound Design: Craig EdmondsonAn Audio Always production for BBC Radio 4

Communities in the Scottish Highlands are facing a housing crisis so bad, it’s been described as a clearance for the 21st century. According to the Convenor of the Highland Council, Bill Lobban, “the species most under threat in the Cairngorms National Park isn’t the Capercaillie but the young family trying to find a home”. Ironically one key cause of the problem is also what brings most into the local economy – tourism.Across the region the growth of the tourism and hospitality industry is driving the demand for 2nd homes and many houses are now used for short-term holiday lets, with the result that very little accommodation remains for locals searching for somewhere to live, what does remain is usually unaffordable or unsuitable. The knock-on effect is that businesses across the Highlands are struggling to find staff and even when they manage to find them, they often lose them because there’s no rental accommodation locally. A sector which has been particularly hard hit is hospitality where low wages exacerbate the issue with the result that hotels and restaurants find themselves in the unenviable position of having plenty of customers but not enough staff to serve them. Often, the only way many businesses can secure staff is if they provide accommodation but that’s not always suitable for long term employees and skilled staff who might have young families plus not all businesses can afford to buy or manage housing for their staff. It’s not just the hospitality sector either which is suffering, the salmon farming industry is being hit hard too and its not just low paid workers, all professions are being priced out of the housing market by too many people chasing too few properties. In Rental Health: All Work No Homes Pennie Stuart heads first to the northwest Highland village of Ullapool to hear how the business community is responding to the unintended consequences of the tourism boom while further south in Aviemore, in the heart of the Cairngorms national park, she hears about the radical solutions being proposed to bring staff, homes and tourism back into some kind of balance. Produced by Dan Holland Presented by Pennie Stuart

In May 2020 a group of experts came together, at speed, to form the UK’s Vaccine Task Force. Born in the teeth of a crisis, its efforts were responsible for allowing Britain to be among the first countries in the world to roll out vaccines against Covid-19. But as memories of the pandemic fade, the urgency it brought to its work has subsided as well. In this edition of Analysis, Sandra Kanthal asks what lessons have been learned from the success of the Vaccine Task Force and if we should be prepared to allocate the time, energy and expense required to be permanently prepared for the next global health emergency. Presenter: Sandra Kanthal Producer: Sandra Kanthal Editor: Clare Fordham

The roads and byways of the British Isles are home to a new generation of travellers. Alongside the traditional Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities there’s a booming sub-culture of van dwellers who prefer the open road to bricks and mortar. For some it's a lifestyle choice. They spend the summer moving from festival to festival, picking up casual jobs as they go. They celebrate their light touch on the planet and those who can afford it take the snowbird route for the winter, heading south through Spain. For increasing numbers, however, there's less glamour in 'van life'. Rapidly rising rents force them into vehicles and a long, cold winter searching for welcoming roadside stops with toilets and taps. Travel writer and broadcaster, Antonia Bolingbroke-Kent has spent many months living out of her own battered VW van. She understands the fantasy and the practical difficulties. In the New Nomads she hears about both sides of van life and discovers new challenges on the horizon. For many travellers- traditional and new- the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act of 2022 feels specifically designed to make their lives as difficult as possible.It creates a new offence of “residing on land without consent in or with a vehicle” and makes it easier for the police to remove unauthorised encampments. Fresh ideas are helping the increasing number of van dwellers. In Bristol, brownfield areas are being turned into temporary spaces for vans and caravans. The residents are happy with these cheap and cheerful campsites but demand far outstrips supply. Unless more affordable homes are built it seems inevitable that more and more young people will have little choice but the open road. Producer: Alasdair Cross

Are we running out of water? Britain may be known for its rain but, as our climate changes, there are warnings we could be closer than we think to our taps running dry. In this episode of Troubled Water, James Gallagher asks why our pipes are being pushed to the brink and what can be done about it, all from the comfort of his bathroom. Huddled in the loo, he talks to Professor Hannah Cloke, OBE, who predicts rainfall events through her work at the University of Reading, Dr Francis Hassard, from the Water Science Institute at Cranfield University, Andrew Tucker who manages water demand at Thames Water and inventor Garry Moore who shows how he's hoping to revolutionise our loos with his air-pressurised Velocity toilet. Presenter: James Gallagher Producer: Tom Bonnett

Much of an astronaut’s leisure time is spent staring back at Earth, they just can’t stop looking back at home. Major Tim Peake journeys into the misunderstood phenomenon of homesickness. Tim had never experienced it until he found himself looking through the copula window of the space craft, which orbited earth several times before reaching the International Space Station. The British astronaut spent 185 days, 22 hours and 11 minutes in space and during that time, developed a deep longing for home, particularly fresh air, nature and the colour green. But what is this powerful desire for home? Is homesickness a psychological illness? A cultural phenomenon? Or something else? Psychotherapist Sarah Temple-Smith who works for the Refugee Council believes the condition is widely misunderstood and its impact critically under-appreciated. She believes it’s a deep-rooted condition with existential consequences. Speaking to those who suffer from it, and those who study it Tim attempts to understand exactly what homesickness is: how it manifests, what it feels like, and the psychological triggers that underpin it.Produced by Kate Bissell and Gail Tolley Sound Design by Joel Cox Developed by BBC Scotland Productions Photo credited to Tim Peake/ESA

Situated 75-miles off the west coast of Shetland, the future of Cambo, a prospective new oil field in the North Sea, has big implications for Shetland. Cambo has become emblematic of the debate about fossil fuels. In 2001, an oil exploration license for the site was granted. In 2021, when public sentiment towards fossil fuels cooled, the project was shelved. But now, Cambo is being reconsidered once again... The war in Ukraine and fears over energy security have changed how we feel about oil and gas. But what's the problem that Cambo is providing a solution to? Will it give us better energy security? Will it enrich the lives of local people? Turns out, the answer is more complex than that... Shetland has directly benefitted from its relationship with North Sea oil. Unlike in the rest of the UK, the local council established something akin to a sovereign wealth fund. They made a proceed from every barrel of oil processed at Sullum Voe Oil Terminal. It's really positively impacted the local population, and as the cost of living crisis bites, the chance of a renewed boost to the local economy is hard to entirely reject, even in the face of growing environmental awareness. In this one-off doc, journalist Jen Stout assesses how the potential end of oil looks from Shetland's perspective. With contributions from historian Ewan Gibbs, energy researcher Miriam Brett, environmental lawyer Tessa Khan, energy transition expert Daniel Gear, former oil worker and councillor Billy Fox, and energy and climate change researcher James Price. Producer: Victoria McArthur Presenting and production: Jen Stout Research: Emily Esson Sound mix: Sean Mullervy Senior Producer: Peter McManus

The word “controversy” almost always accompanies any reference to ECT or electroconvulsive therapy. It has a dark history and remains a deeply contentious practice. For many, ECT is seen as outdated, forever linked with frightening images of medical abuse, cruelty and even punishment. But when Professor Sally Marlow met Dr Tania Gergel at King’s College London, she was forced to acknowledge and then reassess everything she thought she knew about ECT. Her friend Tania told Sally that ECT had saved her life on numerous occasions and that ECT is, in fact, the only treatment that can bring her back to health after episodes of severe depression, psychosis and mania. Tania is Director of Research at Bipolar UK. She’s a philosopher and an internationally respected medical ethicist. She also lives with a serious mental illness; an unusual mixed type of bipolar disorder, and during her last period of illness a year ago, Tania kept an audio diary. In this programme, Sally wants to test her own preconceptions about ECT and to find out about the group of people who describe ECT as having "given them back their lives". She delves into her own family history and talks to her mum, Kath, about the secrecy and shame around the mental illness of her Auntie Joyce, who received ECT in the 1960s. And she joins Tania in the ECT suite at Northwick Park Hospital with nurses Anjali and Kathy to understand how modern ECT is given, with anaesthetic, muscle relaxants and, as Tania says, much kindness. Retired social worker, Sue, tells Sally about the dramatic impact on her acute illness of ECT and clinician and researcher Professor of Psychiatry George Kirov, ECT lead for the Cardiff area, describes the group of patients for whom this treatment works. And Sally talks to the grandfather of American ECT, Professor Max Fink, now 100 years old, about the origins of electroconvulsive therapy. Throughout, Tania shares extracts of her audio diary in order to break down stigma around both mental illness and ECT. Producer: Fiona Hill

Matthew Syed traces the history of a term that's synonymous with our era of angry debate.

Historian Phil Tinline explores why, 37 years ago, the Thatcher government privatised British Gas, how what followed has shaped today's energy price crisis - and what should happen next. Contributors: Professor Michael Bradshaw, Derek Davis, Dr Amy Edwards, Mathew Lawrence, Tim Lefroy, Sir John Redwood Producer: Phil Tinline