Michael Buerk

Senior reactor operator Leonid Toptunov was 25 years old when he sat down at the controls of Reactor Number Four at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. It was just after midnight on April 26, 1986. He would be dead within three days. At 1:23am and 44 seconds, a power surge of catastrophic proportions tore the 1,000-tonne concrete roof off the reactor and blasted the equivalent of 500 Hiroshima bombs worth of radiation into the night sky above Soviet Ukraine. In Pripyat, a city of 50,000 people built for one purpose only: Chernobyl, the buses were already on their way. The residents would never return home. In extraordinary detail, Minute by Minute: Chernobyl reconstructs how the world's worst nuclear disaster unfolded – from the routine safety test that spiralled out of control, through the desperate hours as firefighters and engineers fought an invisible killer without knowing what they faced, to the cover-up that reached all the way to the Kremlin, and the clean-up operation that exposed around 700,000 people to dangerous levels of radiation. Narrated by legendary broadcaster Michael Buerk, this is the definitive minute-by-minute account of the Chernobyl disaster - 40 years on. Host: Michael Buerk Producer: John Rogers Sound Design: John Scott Executive Producers: Bella Soames and Jamie East A Daily Mail production. Seriously Popular Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Former Vietnam War fighter pilot Raymond Wagner toggled the radio transmit button on the right hand side of his Boeing 747-121's control yoke. 'Clipper 103 requesting oceanic clearance', he intoned, using the modulated aviation voice he'd honed over several decades flying. On the other end was Alan Topp, the Scottish Air Traffic Controller working more than 50 miles away in Prestwick, west of Glasgow.The time was 6:58pm on December 21, 1988.They were the last words recorded from Pan Am Flight 103.Within five minutes of that transmission, all the passengers and crew aboard were dead, killed by a bomb that destroyed the aircraft as it flew over the Scottish town of Lockerbie. Large sections of the plane plunged 20,000ft and crashed into residential streets below. 270 people died that night: 243 passengers, 16 crew, and 11 Lockerbie residents. In extraordinary detail, Minute by Minute: The Lockerbie Bombing reconstructs how the deadliest terror attack in Britain's history unfolded – from the moment the bomb was loaded onto a plane in Malta, through the 38 fatal minutes in the air, to the decades-long search for justice that continues today.Narrated by legendary broadcaster Michael Buerk, this is the definitive minute-by-minute account of the Lockerbie Bombing. Host: Michael Buerk Producer: John Rogers Sound Design: John Scott Executive Producers: Bella Soames and Jamie East A Daily Mail production. Seriously Popular Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“Dawn... and as the sun breaks through the piercing chill of night on the plain outside Korem, it lights up a biblical famine, now, in the 20th century...” Those words, spoken by Michael Buerk 40 years ago, pricked the world’s conscience, triggered an unprecedented humanitarian effort, led to Live Aid and spawned institutions like Comic Relief. Since then, more than a billion people around the world have climbed out of extreme poverty, although around 700 million people still live on less than $2.15 a day, according to the World Bank. Times have changed. Not only is the media landscape vastly different, making competing demands on our attention, but also our attitudes to helping the poor around the world are different. The question is not simply whether we have a moral duty to help people in other countries, but HOW we should help them. In a post-pandemic world, there are those who advance ever stronger arguments for ending poverty through debt cancellation, robust institutions and international co-operation. Critics of development aid, however, see it as wasteful, ineffective and enabling corruption: ‘poor people in rich countries subsidising rich people in poor countries’. Others view the sector as a legacy of European colonialism, citing Band Aid’s portrayal of Africa as emblematic of the ‘White saviourism’ ingrained in the system. Others, meanwhile, believe the best way to help people is to bypass institutions altogether, and give cash directly to individuals to make their own decisions about how to spend it. 40 years on from Michael Buerk’s landmark report from Ethiopia, how should we help the global poor? Chair: Michael Buerk Producer: Dan Tierney Assistant producer: Ruth Purser Panellists: Ash Sarkar Anne McElvoy Inaya Folarin Iman Carmody Grey

Taylor Swift fever has swept the UK week. She’s back in August and fans have been paying hundreds sometimes thousands to get their hands on seats through resale sites. It’s led us to think about the price and value of art and culture. St Thomas Aquinas came up with the ‘just price’ theory, that it is wrong to sell something for more than it is worth and charging more based on the need of the buyer is exploitative and sinful. Is that what is going on when punters are asked to stump up for a once in a lifetime experience? In Latin the word pretium means both value and price, but the two are not interchangeable when it comes to the arts. How can you put a price on a potentially transcendent experience, or the life changing power of art? Is that what makes good art and is that what is worth paying for? Do live events culture have a value in itself aside from the economic impact? What does it mean for society when people are priced out? Should governments pick up the bill to make sure everyone has access to the arts. Or are they just an indulgence, a nice way to spend your leisure time but not something deserving of funds in comparison to global problems like poverty or malaria. Presenter: Michael Buerk Panel: Inaya Folarin-Iman James Orr Professor Mona Siddiqui Matthew Taylor Witnesses: Christopher Snowdon, Head of Lifestyle Economics at the IEA Professor Mel Jordan, Professor of Art and the Public Sphere, Coventry University Matt Reardon, Advisor at 80,000 Hours Professor Paul Gough, Vice Chancellor of the Arts University Bournemouth Presenter: Michael Buerk Producer: Catherine Murray Assistant Producer: Ruth Purser Programme Co-ordinator Nancy Bennie & Pete Liggins Editor: Tim Pemberton

Episode 8! We're on tour! Coming live from Jemma's parents conservatory! Extensions Winstone Water Descaling with Michael Buerk Curtis Stiger Lights Mayonnaise memories Strictly Curse And much much more! Drop us a line to get in touch with the show, BWTBPod@gmail.com Thanks for listening! Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today a Stupid Idea of The Week that does have a grain of truth about the causes of obesity. It is too easy to throw the baby out with the public health bathwater when it comes to OTT toxic nonsense. Yes, it’s Michael Buerk’s ridiculous anti-obese people rant. And yes, it does have something to push the debate forward… Plus a partial replay of episode 28 from 2017: Own Your Food Compulsion. WORD OF THE WEEK …is Uncomfortability. This is more than discomfort, it is the ability to sit with discomfort and pain. Includes a hilarious quote from Stuart Wilde! OWN YOUR FOOD COMPULSION My disastrous “lonely hearts” story vs Moss from The IT Crowd. Lesson: If you have a problem, it is better to own it than hide it away in secrecy. I explore this from several different angles. RESOURCES To find out more about 1 to 1 coaching: http://www.theshiftinside.com/coaching/ The 14 Days to Freedom From Sugar Programme http://www.theshiftinside.com/freedom/ Article about the Michael Buerk furore: https://news.sky.com/story/michael-buerk-let-obese-people-die-early-to-save-nhs-money-11778620 The Stuart Wilde quote and ideas come from the book Infinite Self The IT Crowd: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0487831/

Welcome to episode 24 of Just The Fitness tip. Today Michael & Jason discuss the importance of creating a strong community and how it could help you to succeed with your health and fitness goals. There is now a sugar tax on sugary drinks, and today we discuss the potential introduction of a sugar levy on all sugary foods. Is the sugar tax improving our health, or is it simply a money making scheme? We also chat about the recent comments from Michael Buerk who suggests that obese people should be left to die to save the NHS money. Yup. He really said that. Thanks for tuning in and if you like this episode, please do leave us a review. It would make us very happy! You're the best. See you soon!

Michael & Val on Can I Improve My Memory? and Michael's done Friday Night Is Music Night.

Please visit https://fashabooks.com/aff/fashabooks/12 to download full audiobooks of your choice for free. Title: The Road Taken Subtitle: An Autobiography Author: Michael Buerk Narrator: Michael Buerk Format: Abridged Length: 2 hrs and 48 mins Language: English Release date: 9/12/2005 Publisher: Random House AudioBooks Ratings: 4.5 of 5 out of 2 votes Genres: Arts & Entertainment, Interviews & Panels Publisher's Summary: Those words opened Michael Buerk's first report on the Ethiopian famine for the 6 o'clock news on October 24th, 1984. His reports sent shock waves round the world. The Live Aid concert, a direct consequence of Bob Geldof watching that broadcast, was watched by half the planet. Michael Buerk has reported on some of the biggest stories in our lifetime: the Flixborough chemical plant fire, the Birmingham pub bombing, and Lockerbie. He was in Buenos Aires at the start of the Falklands War; he reported the death throes of apartheid in South Africa. He was the face of the BBC flagship evening news for many years and has fronted everything from the popular BBC1 series 999 to the erudite Radio 4 program "The Moral Maze". He has won every major award and is universally admired and respected for his intelligent and honest journalism. Here, he also reveals the private Michael Buerk, his bigamist father, his long and happy marriage to Christine, and his delight at fatherhood.

Do we have a moral duty to make friends with people of different races, social backgrounds and sexuality? The London mayor, Sadiq Khan, is warning that a lack of social integration in the UK is costing our economy about £6bn and he says the answer lies in our own hands. Talking at an international conference on the issue he said "Promoting social integration is a matter for everyone, for every citizen of our cities. It means ensuring that people of different faiths, ethnicities, sexualities, social backgrounds and generations don't just tolerate one another or live side by side but meet, mix and forge relationships as friends and neighbours as well as citizens." London is said to be one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the world, with over 300 languages spoken in it and more than 50 non-indigenous communities with a population of more than 10,000. Yet even there it's clear that some groups choose to settle in areas where there are already a high proportion of people from the same background. Go outside London and that effect is even more pronounced. At a time when social polarisation is an issue in many communities, is it time to see social integration not only as a policy priority but also a personal moral imperative? Should it be as unacceptable to admit to having a mono-cultural social network as to admit being prejudiced? Or is this the kind of PC interference in our lives which fires public resentment and actually encourages division by fostering identity politics? Combative, provocative and engaging debate chaired by Michael Buerk. With Michael Portillo, Mona Siddiqui, Anne McElvoy and Matthew Taylor. Witnesses are Ludi Simpson, Jon Yates, Jemma Levene and James Delingpole.

For Donald Trump it was an 11 year old dusty tape that appeared from the archives. For Sam Allardyce it was a sting by undercover reporters. For the Olympic gymnast Louis Smith it was a video leaked on to the internet. All of them conversations they thought were private becoming embarrassingly public, with varying degrees of consequences. We all say things in private we wouldn't want made public, so what right to privacy should those in the public eye be entitled? Is it a simple case that we have a right to know if it tells us about the character of people who have power or who are asking us to trust them? If that's the case how do explain the myriad of examples from minor sporting celebrities to victims of stings by fake sheiks? Should we put them in the same category? We may think their views are unattractive, even offensive, but shouldn't they be allowed to express them in private, like the rest of us, with some confidence that they'll remain private? What right do we have to know? Would the world be a better place if we never said anything privately we wouldn't want made public? In our clamour to expose and condemn are we creating an unhealthy reality gap between what our leaders and politicians are allowed to say and what they actually think? Or has the digital age rightly blown apart the tight and elitist clubbable privacy that was once so much part of our society? Chaired by Michael Buerk with Anne McElvoy, Michael Portillo, Giles Fraser and Matthew Taylor. Witnesses are Prof Steven Barnett, Prof Josh Cohen, Paul Connew and Tom Chatfield.

130 sessions of oral evidence,150 witnesses, 150,000 documents, more than 2.5 million words - the Chilcot Report on the Iraq War was finally published on the day of this programme. The inquiry was set up to examine our reasons for taking part in the US-led invasion of Iraq, how the war was prosecuted and its aftermath. But was the decision to go to war morally justified? Chilcot confirms that there was a massive failing in intelligence in the lead-up to the decision to go to war, especially around WMD; it accepts that Tony Blair was acting in good faith and did not deliberately mislead Parliament and the public about that intelligence. The relationship between morality and consequences is complex and sometimes contradictory. If Tony Blair and his government were acting in good faith but the consequences of that war were so catastrophic, can we still describe the decision to go to war as a moral one? If the government were a limited company, isn't this the kind of gross negligence that would lead to directors being prosecuted for corporate manslaughter? On the other hand, if - being wise after the event - we were to hound all politicians for making decisions that went wrong, wouldn't that produce sclerosis and the replacement of democratic judgement with technocracy? Is this a counsel of moral perfection that produces only paralysis of the will? When does ignorance become a moral failing? Is that contingent on outcomes? What if the war had been a success and Iraq transformed into a flourishing democracy? Would we still be worrying about whether it was moral? Would we have spent £10m on an inquiry about it? Chaired by Michael Buerk with Michael Portillo, Matthew Taylor, Giles Fraser and Melanie Phillips. Witnesses are Prof Michael Clarke, John Rentoul, Haider Al Safi and Dr Dan Bulley.