BBC Radio 4 has announced a raft of “solution-finding” programmes for the new year.
Five new shows will lead Radio 4’s schedule in the first weeks of 2020, alongside returning series The Fix and The Listening Project.
Beginning on December 30, Positive Thinking will see journalists focusing on issues such as supermarket food waste and isolation in old age, while Green Originals (from January 6) will see notable names such as YouTuber Jack Harries and freediver Tanya Streeter present profiles of those who helped to influence people’s understanding of environmental issues.
Other new programmes include one-off documentary A Small Matter Of Hope (December 30) and Disagreeing Better (December 31), which tries to find a way to carry out respectful debate without resorting to insults.
State Of The Nation (starting on January 6) will see writers Howard Jacobson, Lionel Shriver, Jan Carson, James Meek and Nadifa Mohamed cast an eye over the past year and the 12 months ahead.
Radio 4 controller Mohit Bakaya said: “Looking at solutions to today’s problems and bringing people and different views together will be a key pillar of Radio 4 this coming year and beyond.
“The station has long been a space for discussion, but at a time when debate has often become divisive and reductive, I think Radio 4’s role as a public space to open up discussions, for people to listen, disagree, but also discover common ground, in a civilised manner, is more important now than it ever has been.”