The Athens Experiment
From Our Own Correspondent
BBC
4.4 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 21 February 2015
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The human lives behind the headlines: a view from the pistachio field after a tense night of talks on the Greek debt crisis; the Argentine president under scrutiny as thousands take to the streets demanding an investigation into the death of state prosecutor Nisman; the government in Bangkok tries to stop foreign couples using Thai women as surrogate mothers; the young foreigners flying into Suriname hoping they'll make their fortunes illegally panning for gold. And it may not be fashionable, but it's Italy's favourite spirit -- we're at the grappa distillery where they do not frown on drinking at work.
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Thank you for downloading the latest edition of BBC radios from our own correspondent, |
| 0:05.7 | the best in news and current affairs storytelling. |
| 0:08.8 | It's introduced by Kate Aide. |
| 0:11.3 | Hello, today a climb down or the dawn of a new era. We're in a |
| 0:15.5 | pistachio field as a hard-won deal is reached in the Greek debt crisis. The |
| 0:20.9 | mystery Japanese man who's paid women in Thailand to have 16 babies for him, the government in Bangkok's taking action. |
| 0:28.0 | We fly into Suriname, with a young adventurer hoping he'll make his fortune panning gold, but he looks |
| 0:34.8 | frightened, and in Italy one of the few companies in the world where drinking at |
| 0:39.4 | work is positively encouraged. |
| 0:42.8 | The talks in Brussels yesterday about the Greek debt bailout were apparently tense. |
| 0:47.5 | They ended with Greece being offered a four-month breathing space on condition that it can |
| 0:51.7 | provide a list of proposed economic reforms acceptable to the |
| 0:55.5 | EU and to Athens. |
| 0:58.0 | The Greek finance minister Janis Varifakis said the deal marked a new era. It certainly cheered up international markets. |
| 1:05.0 | There was a surge in prices on Wall Street. But the Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras |
| 1:10.0 | will be keen that his people don't see it as a climb down. His party came to |
| 1:14.9 | power last month promising to tear up the hated austerity program and as Mark |
| 1:19.9 | Lohan tells us thus far they're still behind him. |
| 1:23.0 | Pistachios are strange trees, says Aleni Kipprau, examining the buds on her latest crop. |
| 1:30.0 | Sometimes the sun is just right, you give them the correct amount of water, but the harvest |
| 1:34.8 | is disappointing, and the next year you think it's all gone wrong, but you get the most wonderful |
| 1:39.9 | result. |
... |
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.

