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31/12/2015

Guest editor David Adjaye takes charge of the programme. We talk to Uber about the changing city and explore the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

3 hours

Last on

Thu 31 Dec 2015 06:00

Thursday 31st December

0645

Our guest editor today is architect David Adjaye. David spoke to Radio 1Xtra's DJ Edu about what he thinks is one of the most striking albums of the year, by Belgian born and Cape Town-based musician Petite Noir.

0650

The outgoing United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, has strongly criticised Europe's response to the migration crisis. He told the ´óÏó´«Ã½ that the European Union was totally unprepared when Syrian refugees started arriving.

0655

MPs on the Public Accounts Committee have concluded that the government is failing to learn the lessons of IT projects that go wrong. Conservative MP Richard Bacon tells us about the case-study the committee studied: a project aimed at enabling data from GPs surgeries to be used elsewhere in the NHS.

0710

Storm Frank battered Scotland, Northern Ireland and northern England on Wednesday. Ben Ando reports from the village of Croston in Lancashire, and James Shaw is in Dumfries.

0715

Prosecutors in Pennsylvania have charged the 78 year old American comedian Bill Cosby with aggravated indecent assault over an alleged incident in 2004. Laurie Levenson is a criminal law expert and professor at the Loyola Law School in Los Angeles.

0720

Our guest editor, architect David Adjaye, recently designed the Mass Extinction Monitoring Observatory, a stone spiral rising above on Dorset's Jurassic Coast. We take g a closer look at three of the hundreds of extinct species it will showcase. Elizabeth Kolbert, author of the Sixth Extinction, talks about the Spix's Macaw.

0725

What are the factors that should influence city planning in the modern world? We spoke to Alison Nimmo, who was in charge of planning most of the venues for London's Olympic Park in East London, and to Gerard Koeppel, historian and author of ''City on a Grid: How New York Became New York".

0730

On 26 June 2015, an Islamist mass shooting attack occurred at the tourist resort Port El Kantaoui in Tunisia. 38 people, 30 of whom were British, were killed when an armed gunman attacked a hotel. Brian Harrison, Red Cross volunteer & ex-Army officer who was in Sousse during the attacks, talks to us about what was described as "the most significant terror attack on British people" since the 7/7.

0740

Our guest editor this morning, architect David Adjaye, asked us to look at how new technology is changing the way we live in cities. Uber, the car company that allows you to book it and track it on a mobile phone, seemed an obvious choice. David Plouffe is Uber’s chief adviser, and previously served as US President Barack Obama’s campaign manager.

0750

Despite only being launched earlier this year, the Financial Conduct authority says it is dropping its study of behaviour in retail and wholesale banks, designed to review Britain’s banking culture. Conservative MP Mark Garnier, member of the Treasury Select Committee, reflects on the decision.

0810

As storm Frank continues to wreak havoc across the UK, we ask what this says about wider global weather systems. Tim Palmer is a professor in climate physics at the University of Oxford and Colin Thorne is a professor of physical geography at Nottingham University.

0820

New Year’s Honours were announced last night, and one of the notable recipients is choreographer and director Matthew Bourne, known in particular for his modern take on traditional shows such as Swan Lake. Sir Michael joins us in the studio.

0825

David Adjaye, today’s guest editor, has designed a building for the Mass Extinction Monitoring Observatory. Elizabeth Kolbert, author of the Sixth Extinction, profiles the white rhino.

0830

One of David Adjaye's most notable UK commissions is the Stephen Lawrence centre, which opened in South East London in 2007. Alleged police racism has also become a national issue in the US following the riots in Ferguson, Missouri, last year and the death of a teenager there named Michael Brown. In both cases their death has become a public cause, and their mothers, Baroness Doreen Lawrence and Lezley McSpadden, became activists. We spoke to them about how they sought to turn the worst possible tragedy into something positive.

0840

One of the most striking images of flooding yesterday was of a bus in south Ayrshire that became completely stranded by rising waters and the passengers had to be rescued by helicopter. Richard Brown, head of hydrology for the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency, talks about the latest alerts.

0845

David Adjaye was in charge of the design of the  Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington DC, which is due to open next year. The singer and activist Harry Belafonte is one of the artists that will contribute to the museum's collection.

0855

Our guest editor today has been architect David Adjaye. After setting up his practice in 1994, he became associated with the success of the ‘Young British Artists’ based in East London at the time. Now one of Britain’s most internationally acclaimed architects, he has landmark buildings in Oslo, Moscow and Beirut. He discusses his influences and the opening in 2016 of his most high-profile project yet: the Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington.


All subject to change.

Broadcast

  • Thu 31 Dec 2015 06:00