Bonus: Review of the Year 2026, So Far...
Newscast
BBC
4.3 • 6.6K Ratings
🗓️ 28 January 2026
⏱️ 37 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
We’re only four weeks into the new year, but it feels like a year’s worth of news has happened already. So Radio 4 asked us to do a (very early) review of 2026 so far, and we thought we’d put it in your feed as a bonus episode.
Adam and Henry are in the studio. Chris joins from home as he prepares in all sorts of ways for a trip to China with the Prime Minister.
They chat through the fights of the left and right that have set the tone in the early part of year before chief international correspondent Lyse Doucet pops in to discuss Trump, Greenland, Venezuala, Iran, and how the world’s reacted to it all.
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The presenters were Adam Fleming and Chris Mason. It was made by Chris Flynn with Chloe Scannapieco. The technical producer was Phil Bull. The assistant editor is Chris Gray. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, podcasts. |
| 0:05.5 | Hello, here is a bonus episode of newscasts, and here is the backstory. |
| 0:11.3 | We thought, wouldn't it be funny, if we did a review of the year, but now. |
| 0:17.1 | So rather than waiting till December, 26, what if we did it on the 27th of January, |
| 0:23.0 | 2026? The idea being there is so much news this year, it feels like we've lived through a whole |
| 0:28.6 | year already. And it's kind of like the podcasting version of that meme that you might have been |
| 0:32.9 | sent from the sitcom 30 Rock, where Tina Faye says to Alec Baldwin, |
| 0:38.4 | Hey, what a week. |
| 0:39.7 | And Alec Baldwin says, Liz, it's only Tuesday. |
| 0:42.7 | So that is a little experiment and a little bonus that we're giving to you in the newscast feed. |
| 0:47.5 | So what you'll hear is me, Chris, Henry and Lease sitting in the newscast studio, talking about the year so far, and we recorded it just after lunchtime on Tuesday, the 27th of January. |
| 1:00.3 | Newscast from the BBC. |
| 1:02.6 | Well, I will be sitting in this seat by 2027. |
| 1:04.7 | I removed the Conservative whip from Robert Jenrick. |
| 1:07.3 | That's probably the biggest statement I made, because people thought I would use force. |
| 1:28.8 | He hasn't changed his mind, is he? We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition. I feel like I've come home. I'm not kidding. No, the new Trump signature series, knee pads. Here I am. Bucking. My job. Full focus. Do you think? My job is now. Blimey. Hello, it's Adam in the newscast studio. |
| 1:28.7 | And it is Chris at home, having just hair dried my because my job has now overgrate too much. Blimey. Hello, it's Adam in the newscast studio. |
| 1:32.2 | And it is Chris at home having just hair-dried my underpants because I'm off to China |
| 1:33.6 | following the Prime Minister for the next few days |
| 1:35.6 | and I didn't get the whole washing cycle quite right. |
| 1:38.7 | And is Henry in the studio with Adam |
| 1:41.9 | with nothing so dramatic |
... |
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