Episodes
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US lawmakers are deciding whether to act against the country’s powerful tech giants. Some believe the likes of Facebook, Amazon, Google and Apple are stifling competition. The companies have made huge profits during the Covid crisis and critics believe they will use this cash to buy competitors.
With Charmaine Cozier.
Clockwise from top left: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Google CEO Sundar Pichai, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, Apple CEO Tim Cook.
Getty Images -
Winter is coming in the northern hemisphere and traditionally it is time for colds and flu.
This has raised fears that coronavirus will surge when the seasons change, possibly leading to a second wave of the disease that is even bigger than the first.
However, predicting what a Covid winter will look like is complex and uncertainty reigns - there are reasons both to be worried and to be reassured.
Contributors:
. Micaela Martinez, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences at Columbia University
. Katherine Wu, a health and science journalist with The New York Times
. Judit Vall, a professor in health and labour economics at the University of Barcelona
. Dominique Moisi, the author of The Geopolitics of Emotion.
(A man walks through a snowfall in Sarajevo, wearing a mask as protection against Covid-19. Credit Mustafa Ozturk / Getty Images) -
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With an estimated million Uighurs in detention camps, China has used a variety of means to successfully stifle world criticism. They include its economic muscle, political alliances with like-minded countries and sanitized tours of the facilities for opinion formers.
With Charmaine Cozier.
(Uighur prisoners shackled and blindfolded in Xinjiang, China. Still from anonymous drone footage.) -
The presidential opposition candidate Joe Biden has barely emerged from his home since America’s lockdown at the end of March. But polls suggest that the low-key strategy is working in his favour – as his rival President Donald Trump comes under increasing pressure over his handling of the coronavirus and a resurgence of racial tension.
With four months to go until the election, is staying in the basement Joe Biden’s best option? What are the risks if he does? And how could Donald Trump turn things around?
Contributors:
. Jason Zengerle, writer at large for the New York Times Magazine
. Rachel Bitecofer, Senior Fellow at the Niskanen Center and host of the Election Whisperer.
. Niambi Carter, Associate Professor of Political Science at Howard University and author of “American While Black”.
. Whit Ayres, Republican pollster at North Star Opinion Research.
Presenter: Tanya Beckett
Producers: Estelle Doyle and Victoria McCraven
Editor: Richard Vadon
(Image: Joe Biden at campaign event, Credit: Leah Mills/Reuters) -
The recent border clash between China and India is seen as a watershed moment in the two nuclear nations’ relationship. How will its repercussions affect Asia, and the rest of the world?
Contributors:
. Chris Dougherty - a senior fellow with the Defence Programme at the Centre for New American Securities.
. Ananth Krishnan – a correspondent for the Hindu newspaper. And the author of “India’s China Challenge”
. Tanvi Madan – a senior fellow in the Foreign Policy programme at the Brookings Institution.
. Yu Jie - a Senior Research Fellow on China at Chatham House.
Presenter: Tanya Beckett
Series Producer: Estelle Doyle
(Chinese President Leader Xi Jinping with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the 2017 BRICS Summit. Photo: Kenzaburo Fukuhara/Getty images) -
Why are Covid cases dramatically increasing in some U.S. states, where rates had been low? The number of new coronavirus infections in a single day has passed fifty five thousand. Is it because of more testing, or is something else going on?
(Demonstrators outside the State Capitol in Auston.Texas protesting against Coronavirus restrictions. Credit: Gary Miller/Getty Images) -
President Vladimir Putin has been in power for 20 years. The Russian people have been voting on a change to the constitution that could keep him in the Kremlin until 2036. While world leaders and opponents struggle to second guess him, some objectives appear to be clear: stability at home, respect abroad and power maintained for his inner circle.
Presented by Charmaine Cozier
(President Vladimir Putin at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, February 2020. Credit: Mikhail Svetlov/Getty Images) -
The killing of African American George Floyd ignited anti-racist protests around the world - many centred on statues associated with colonialism and slavery. Why do these figures of bronze and stone generate such strong feelings? And what do they tell us about how countries deal with their past?
Contributors:
Sarah Beetham Chair of Liberal Arts at the Pennsylvania Academy in the Fine Arts.
Ghaith Abdul-Ahad journalist for The Guardian newspaper.
AGK Menon, architect, urban planner and founder of the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage.
Daniel Libeskind, architect.
Presenter: Kavita Puri
(Protesters attempt to pull down the statue of Andrew Jackson near the White House June 22, 2020 in Washington, DC. Credit: Drew Angerer/Getty Images) -
Why is the movie business having trouble representing the world’s population on and behind the big screen? A rising share of the U.S. population are black, more than half of the demographic are female – so why is it so difficult to translate this into cinema?
Hollywood has found itself red-faced in an era of Black Lives Matter and MeToo movements. From #OscarsSoWhite to criticism of who’s behind the films we see, the pressure to change is stacking up.
Charmaine Cozier discovers the issues within the industry and what movie bosses prioritise over diversity. But will activists, actors and data be enough to convince big studios that the revolution is here – or will it just be business as usual?
Guests:
April Reign, Diversity and Inclusion Advocate and creator of the #OscarsSoWhite movement
Naomi McDougall-Jones, a film producer, writer and women in film activist
Darnell Hunt, Dean of Social Sciences at UCLA and Professor of Sociology in African American Studies. He is co-author of the UCLA Hollywood Diversity report
Bonnie Greer, a writer and critic
Presenter: Charmaine Cozier/ Producer: Bethan Head
(Actor John Boyega raises his fist in protest at a Black Lives Matter march in London, UK (Credit: Daniel Leal-Olivas /Getty Images) -
From the bubonic plague and cholera to tuberculosis, pandemics have changed the ways cities have been designed and built. The coronavirus has been no different: with cities all over the world on lockdown, our cities have changed to become quieter, greener, with wildlife returning on an unprecedented scale. Now, with the lockdowns beginning to ease, Kavita Puri asks: what is the future of our cities? Will they return to the way they were - and do we want them to?
Producer: Eleanor Biggs
Presenter: Kavita Puri
(Parisians cycle through the streets of Paris on the Rue de Rivoli, which has been made almost entirely cycleable. Photo:Samuel Boivin/Getty Images) -
Why is George Floyd the latest in a long line of unarmed black men killed by US police? Studies show black men are three times more likely to be killed by police in America than white people.
With Helena Merriman.
(A man speaks into a bullhorn as demonstrators march in Los Angeles, California. 2 June 2020. Brent Stirton/Getty Images) -
Ever since a mysterious virus was reported in December 2019 in the Chinese city of Wuhan, the world has been watching China.
Silenced whistleblowers, unregulated wildlife trade in wet markets, limited international cooperation, and even a local biosafety lab have been held up as examples of how China mishandled the crisis. But how far can it be blamed for Covid-19 becoming a pandemic?
This week on The Inquiry, Kavita Puri asks what the Chinese government could, or should, have done differently to prevent a global catastrophe.
Producer: Eleanor Biggs
Presenter: Kavita Puri
(A man drags a handcart across an emptied road on February 5, 2020 during lockdown in Wuhan, Hubei province, China. Getty Images) -
As governments spend huge sums to get through the coronavirus crisis, how will they fund it all? Slash spending, raise taxes or just accept debt is here to stay?
With Tanya Beckett.
(Photo: Variety of world currency notes: Credit: Getty images) -
To date, 7500 people have lost their lives in Germany in a population of 80 million. Other comparably sized European countries like the UK, France, Italy and Spain – some with smaller populations have deaths far exceeding Germany several times over. In this week’s Inquiry Kavita Puri tries to find out why.
Producer Jim Frank
(People walk at Kurfürstendamm, Berlin's popular shopping area during the coronavirus crisis May 2020 Germany. Credit: Maja Hitij /Getty Images) -
In news reports and newspapers, pictures of British healthcare workers who have lost their lives to Covid-19 sit side by side.
And if you look at those faces one thing stands out clearly. Of the 119 cases of NHS deaths more than two thirds are black or an ethnic minority - yet they only make up 20% of the workforce. Figures from the National Health Service in England show a disproportionate number of Covid-19 deaths are amongst these groups. And it’s not just in the UK.
In the United States on available data – it’s a similar story with African Americans accounting for many more deaths in a community that make up 13% of the population.
So what’s going on?
Kavita Puri speaks with:
Dr Kamlesh Khunti, Professor of Primary Care Diabetes and Vascular Medicine at the University of Leicester
Professor Kathy Rowan, Director of the Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre
Dr Consuelo Wilkins, Vice President for Health Equity at Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Prof John Watkins, Professor Epidemiology, Cardiff University/Public Health Wales
(Ambulance workers transport patients to St Thomas' Hospital in Westminster, London, UK. Photo credit: Ollie Millington/Getty Images) -
Tanya Beckett looks at 5G and examines why it’s become the centre of conspiracy theories linking it to the coronavirus and others. What is it about the latest mobile technology which some find so alarming that it drives them to attack and burn down this infrastructure? And what draws people to conspiracy theories - even when all available evidence says they’re wrong.
Reporter Tanya Beckett
Producer Jim Frank -
As some nations begin to tentatively lift their lockdowns, Tanya Beckett asks how best this can be done. What lessons, if any, can we learn from past pandemics? How do states make the decision, juggling the increasing demands of economic and social factors against public health concerns, amid worries of a new wave of infections from the disease? And what will our lives look like in a post-lockdown world? We hear from contributors based in France, the United States, South Korea and Denmark - one of the first countries to begin to lift its lockdown.
Reporter Tanya Beckett
Producer Jim Frank
Image: A woman wearing a mask runs through a deserted Central Park in Manhattan, April 16, 2020 during lockdown in New York City, USA (Credit: Johannes Eisele/ Getty Images) -
Last month, everyday supermarket items turned into valuable and vanishing commodities overnight – none more so than toilet paper. There are now billions of us around the world living in lockdown conditions, a situation we’ve not been prepared for. And we seem to be in this for the long haul. In this week’s Inquiry, we’ll be asking how we can help people stay rational in a pandemic.
Presenter/Producer: Sandra Kanthal
(Empty shelves in the aisles of a CO-OP store in Kent, UK March 14, 2020 due to the Coronavirus outbreak. Photo credit: Robin Pope/ Getty Images) -
How will Africa deal with Covid-19? It began in China then reached the Middle East, Europe and the United States, now Africa is bracing itself for a surge in coronavirus cases. But how will the continent, with its weaker health care systems and often poor populations cope? The picture is not the same everywhere. Some countries and some sections of society may fare better than others, but the worry is that many African countries simply don’t have the tools or resources to stand up to this pandemic. Or might there be some lessons learnt from the Ebola outbreak which could help? This is a continent of young people, so demographics could work in their favour, but many of them are already compromised by HIV, malaria and other disease outbreaks.
Tanya Beckett speaks to the director of a hospital in rural Uganda, to the head of the Nigeria’s Centre for Disease Control, to the CEO of the Confederation of Zimbabwe Industries and to the former President of Liberia, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, about their worries and preparations for Covid-19.
Presenter: Tanya Beckett
Producer: John Murphy
(An African man wearing an alternative mask in Kampala, Uganda April 2020. Credit: Sumy Sadurni/Getty images) -
The race is on for the world’s scientists to develop a safe and effective Covid-19 vaccine. The Inquiry examines quickly how this can be done and what hurdles need to be overcome to roll out a vaccine in 12-18 months, rather than the many years it would normally take.
Presented by Kavita Puri.
(medical doctor with a vaccine. Credit: Getty images) - Show more