NPR and other Radio Stations

This post includes links to radio stations you may find useful, whilst revising or just catching up with what's going on in the world.

NPR: National Public Radio from the USA.
BBC Radio 4: Listen live here
BBC World Service - Listen live here.

Slightly more randomly...
WFMU - An enthusiastic radio station from New Jersey which broadcasts from an impressively eclectic playlist of music.
Triple J - Australian station that specialises in new and live music.
FIP: Eccentric French radio!
KCRW: If you like things Californian...

Let us know if you find any others worth sharing.

Jimmy Reid: 'We don't only build ships. We build men'

I'm pretty sure that (nearly) all of us will forgive trade union leader, Jimmy Reid, who died this week aged 78, for the implicit sexism of the above wonderful comment.

I was hobbling along (dodgy Achilles heal) Wanstead flats on Thursday morning listening via headphones to "Today" on Radio 4 and was simply bowled over by this marvellous clip (only 3 minutes) of an interview with Jimmy from 2007.

Enjoy on playback here (not sure how long it will be available?).

Hat tip picture and a surprisingly interesting and even sympathetic story on Jimmy from the Torygraph.

"Redcar - Made of Steel"

While dashing along the M6 on Monday afternoon I listened to Radio 4 “Archive Hour” programme about a history of iron ore mining and steel production in Teesside. Some folk would have immediately switched over but if they did they missed something special (IMO). Check out BBC iPlayer here (7 days ).

At one time railway lines and iron bridges all other the world would have had “made in Teesside” stamped on them.

Production first began in Teesside following the discovery of nearby iron ore deposits. The mines were still producing ore until early 20th century while the steel production plant at Redcar was very recently put into mothballs to the despair of the local community.

The programme did not romanticise the physically hard, dirty and dangerous work of mining or being a steel worker but it did celebrate their strong sense of pride, comradeship and solidarity.

The programme reminded me of the closure of the main plant at Shotton Steel works in the 1980’s.  Check out my thoughts pre CONDEM gov.

Question: Do we need to have employment with such bloody awful working conditions to bring about a similar true sense of class and identity amongst working people?

Niall Ferguson and the History Curriculum

The historian Niall Ferguson has been invited by Michael Gove to overhaul the way history is taught in schools. Ferguson has spoken regularly about the need to teach the "Big Story" in history, encouraging a greater sense of chronology and connection between more popular school topics such as Henry VIII, Adolf Hitler and Martin Luther King. He is working on a four year syllabus (supported by a Channel Four series) that would emphasize in particular the rise of Western European society. Michael Gove is certainly impressed by this, although he has stopped short of supporting Ferguson's call for History to be made compulsory. Here is one response to his comments. What are your thoughts on this?

PS: Here is a comment from Martin Kettle who believes modern multicultural Britain lacks a common culture to support the sustainable teaching of a common history. Do you agree?

PPS: Here is a Daily Mail article from 2009 that believes "Trendy teaching is 'producing a generation of history numbskulls"

PPPS: The Radio 4 Programme "Analysis" has just covered this issue, asking whether Ferguson's proposals can really be a force for social cohesion. You can listen to the programme here and read a summary of it here.