Month: June 2017

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The Gist - Autocrats Can’t Take a Joke

Bassem Youssef hasn’t cut open a chest in six years. And he doesn’t miss it. “Being into medicine for 19 years, it’s a character builder,” says the Egyptian comedian, who says his old job prepped him well for his new one. Youssef went from being a surgeon in Cairo to the Jon Stewart of Egypt, a satirist with 40 million views a week. Youssef’s brief reign as the king of Egyptian comedy is the focus of a new documentary, Tickling Giants, which is now out on VOD.

On the Spiel, Trump has finally accomplished something unthinkable as president. He’s got people talking about Shakespeare in the Park. 

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More or Less: Behind the Stats - WS More or Less: Are African football players more likely to die on the field?

Cheick Tiote, the much loved former Newcastle United player collapsed and died while training with Chinese side Beijing Enterprises earlier this month. His death and that of other black footballers have caused some commentators to ask ? are African or black players more likely to die while playing than other people?

The data of footballers deaths is pretty poor but we try to glean some answers from the scant numbers available. It look like one of the most common causes of death among players on the pitch is cardiac arrest ? son is this is a greater risk factor for people of African heritage?

We speak to statistician Dr Robert Mastrodomenico and Professor Sanjay Sharma, a specialist in sports cardiology.

Presented and produced by Jordan Dunbar and Charlotte McDonald

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Start the Week - Crossing the Boundaries of Gender, Race and Class

On Start the Week Kirsty Wark asks what it is to be a man, and to belong to a tribe. Thomas Page McBee has sought answers as he's transitioned from female to male, and explored how far the violent men of his youth are models of masculinity. Fatherhood and aggression take centre stage in Gary Owen's play, Killology, in which he's created a video game that allows players to live out their darkest fantasies. The poet Kayo Chingonyi moved to Britain when he was a child and in his debut collection he translates the rites of passage of his native Zambia to his new home. In the TV drama Ackley Bridge, filmmaker Penny Woolcock imagines a new school that throws together two communities, segregated along ethnic lines, in a fictional Yorkshire mill town. Producer: Katy Hickman Image: Missy (Poppy Lee Friar) and Nasreen (Amy Leigh Hickman) in Ackley Bridge on Channel 4 Photographer: Matt Squire.

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the memory palace - A White Horse, re-released on the second anniversary of the shooting at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando.

This piece was originally released a few days after the shooting deaths of 49 people at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando, Florida. It is re-released here on the second anniversary of the event. 

If you are so moved, please donate to any of these charities:

Equality Florida.

Human Rights Campaign.

Everytown for Gun Safety.

 

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