New Year Questions
From Our Own Correspondent
BBC
4.4 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 2 January 2016
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Your window on the wider world. The Iraqi forces claimed victory over IS fighters when they swept into the city of Ramadi - but the place has been devastated, it will be months before residents can return to their homes. Thomas Fessy, who's been there, explains why this is being viewed as a significant achievement by the Iraqi security forces. On the Greek island of Lesbos, bad weather has slowed the tide of human migrants sweeping into the EU but Paul Adams says the new year will see European leaders trying again to come up with a coherent response to what's been one of the great human migrations of recent times. The new Argentine president is trying to breathe life into the country's moribund economy -- in Buenos Aires, as Petroc Trelawny's been finding out, some dare to dream this could bring the glamour back to the once-smart shopping streets of the capital. We're amazed to learn from Carolyn Browne in Brittany that it's possible to drive a car quite legally on the roads of France -- even if you've lost your driving licence after being convicted of drink/driving! And Kota Bharu in Malaysia is a city which few westerners get to - but Gareth Armstrong was a recent visitor and talks to us about a harmonious place where people of different faiths live happily side by side. He points out though that it pays to carry an umbrella there!
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Happy New Year from our own correspondent team at Broadcasting House in London. |
| 0:04.8 | You've downloaded the latest edition of our programme, |
| 0:07.5 | broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on Saturday, January 2nd, 2016. |
| 0:12.4 | It's introduced as ever by Kate Aide. |
| 0:15.0 | Hello, today questions for the new year. Does the fall of Ramadi to Iraqi forces |
| 0:21.0 | really mean that IS is on the retreat? A new economic plan for Argentina, but |
| 0:26.9 | will it bring glamour back to the once glittering shopping streets of Buenos Aires? |
| 0:32.1 | If you lose your license in France after a big night out, can you actually |
| 0:36.1 | be back behind the wheel of a car quite legally within hours? And in Malaysia, we're wondering, |
| 0:42.4 | can you still have fun at a cinema when the house lights stay on throughout the film? |
| 0:48.0 | But first we're asking if Europe's most serious migration crisis since the Second World War will continue to |
| 0:54.3 | dominate headlines in the new year as it has throughout 2015. On Monday the United |
| 1:00.2 | Nations Refugee Agency said more than 1 million refugees and migrants reached Europe by sea last year. |
| 1:07.0 | More than 80% of them arrived in Greece, most on the island of Lesbos. |
| 1:12.0 | This week the weather there deteriorated sharply. Fewer people |
| 1:15.7 | than usual were braving the short and still potentially dangerous sea crossing from |
| 1:20.1 | Turkey. But Paul Adams says the authorities trying to cope with the crisis |
| 1:24.9 | are not expecting a significant downturn in numbers in the months to come. |
| 1:30.2 | At the northern tip of the island a vicious north wind blew over the Aegean, whipping up an angry sea and howling over the rocky beaches of Lesbos. |
| 1:39.0 | It felt arctic. Robin Jenkins, a lifeboat man more used to pulling drunken tourists out of the Thames, |
| 1:46.0 | took his rigid inflatable, a gift from Atlantic College in South Wales, out over the surf to show his eager |
| 1:52.4 | Greek volunteers how to operate in challenging waters. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.