Tumbling Down
From Our Own Correspondent
BBC
4.4 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 1 April 2017
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Robbery, extortion, kidnapping; bananas with everything; and a monkey cascade. Kate Adie introduces correspondents' stories: Tom Stevenson is in the Libyan capital Tripoli, where the lights are out, the militias are enriching themselves, and chaos reigns. Matthew Brunwasser tells the story of the man fighting for justice in Serbia, 17 years after his three brothers were murdered. Gemma Newby tucks into bananas for breakfast, lunch and dinner in the Dominican Republic as she visits a now crumbling town built by one of the banana giants; Kieran Cooke is in the town in the West of Ireland which used to have the highest pub to people ratio in the country. That, and much else, has changed but the spirit remains undiminished. And in Ethiopia's Highlands, the writer Tim Butcher witnesses the extraordinary and heart-warming spectacle of the great African monkey cascade
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | This is the BBC. |
| 0:02.0 | And yes, this is from our own correspondent from Radio 4 on Saturday the 1st of April 2017. |
| 0:10.0 | We do have bananas for you, but no fooling around. |
| 0:13.5 | And here's Kate Aide. |
| 0:14.7 | Hello. |
| 0:15.7 | Today we're in Serbia amid a bruising election campaign with a man who's been seeking |
| 0:21.3 | justice for 17 years. Bananas anyone? We have them for breakfast, |
| 0:27.1 | lunch and supper in the Dominican Republic, where we hear about life at the top of the hill and at the bottom during the Banana Hay Day. |
| 0:36.0 | Islands fortunes have been on a roller coaster ride in recent years, |
| 0:40.0 | and it's the small rural towns that have suffered most, but in the west of Ireland |
| 0:44.8 | our correspondent finds an undiminished spirit. |
| 0:48.4 | And in Ethiopia's highlands more positive spirit, the spirit of cooperation in the great African monkey cascade. |
| 0:57.7 | To Libya first, and the removal of the dictator Muammar Gaddafi was supposed to herald a new dawn for this country of six million people |
| 1:05.8 | with large oil reserves. |
| 1:08.2 | Libya ought to be a wealthy nation, but it hasn't worked out like that. |
| 1:12.0 | At least a million Libyans have left the country |
| 1:14.8 | and another 400,000 are internally displaced. There isn't one government but three main |
| 1:20.8 | groupings vying for power. While the country is awash with weapons, and |
| 1:25.2 | militia groups regularly disrupt oil supplies. |
| 1:28.8 | Libya's also been a gateway for refugees and migrants heading to Europe and there are reported to be |
| 1:34.6 | several hundred ISIS fighters spread across the territory. In short, it's a country |
| 1:39.7 | in chaos. Not many Western journalists get there nowadays, but Tom Stevenson has just been to the capital, Tripoli, and he didn't find much to cheer about. |
... |
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.