my private podcast channel
Who is Massad Boulos the man steering the US and the DR Congo towards a mineral deal?
What's Uganda's role in the DR Congo crisis?
And are African youth more resilient than their western peers?
Presenter: Audrey Brown Producers: Frenny Jowi and Charles Gitonga in Nairobi, Blessing Aderogba in Lagos with Tom Kavanagh and Amie Leibowitz in London. Technical Producer: Philip Bull Senior Producer: Paul Bakibinga Editors: Andre Lombard and Alice Muthengi
Minecraft is the most successful computer game ever. It's sold 300 million copies, built an active community of fans and there's now even a Minecraft movie. So how did one man - Markus Persson - create it all by himself, before selling it for billions?
BBC business editor Simon Jack and journalist Zing Tsjeng find out how a high school dropout, obsessed with Lego and gaming, became a computer game hero. The Swedish programmer, known by the nickname Notch, built a virtual 3D world where, with the help of a pickaxe, players could harness their creativity to build almost anything, one block at a time. Persson founded the video game development company Mojang Studios, before selling it to Microsoft, but then came a spectacular downfall.
Good Bad Billionaire is the podcast exploring the lives of the super-rich and famous, tracking their wealth, philanthropy, business ethics and success. There are leaders who made their money in Silicon Valley, on Wall Street and in high street fashion. From iconic celebrities and CEOs to titans of technology, the podcast unravels tales of fortune, power, economics, ambition and moral responsibility, before inviting you to make up your own mind: are they good, bad or just another billionaire?
Audio for this episode was updated on 20 May 2025.
French far-right leader calls embezzlement conviction a 'witch hunt' at Paris rally. Also: mobile number mix-up blamed for White House security breach, Pope surprises crowds at the Vatican and Soccer Grannies World Cup.
Protesters across the US have taken to the streets in a show of defiance against Donald Trump’s policies. Also: what’s so compelling about jazz, and is British English slang being adopted across the Atlantic?
Meet the man dedicating his life to helping thousands of stray dogs. Also: the childhood sweethearts who reunited after 85 years, and Baileigh Sinaman-Daniel, playing college basketball with only one arm.
Harriett Gilbert talks with Michelle de Kretser about her eighth novel, Scary Monsters, which won the 2023 Rathbones Folio Fiction Prize.
This diptych novel consists of the tale of two immigrants, one in the past, and one in a dystopian future that seems all too possible. Which story to start with? That’s the reader’s decision.
In the past, Lili. Her family migrated to Australia from Asia when she was a child. Now, in the 1980s, she teaches in Montpellier, in the south of France. Her life revolves around her desires to carve out a space for herself, and become a great woman like Simone de Beauvoir. She tries to make friends, observes the treatment of other immigrants to France who don’t have the shield of an Australian passport, and continually has to dodge her creepy downstairs neighbour, as stories of serial killers dominate news headlines.
In the future, Lyle works for a government department in near-future Australia where Islam has been banned, a pandemic has only recently passed, and the elderly are encouraged to take advantage of The Amendment - a law that allows, if not encourages, assisted suicide. An Asian migrant, Lyle is terrified of repatriation and spends all his energy on embracing "Australian values", which in this future involve rampant consumerism, an obsession with the real estate market, and never mentioning the environmental catastrophe even as wildfires choke the air with a permanent smoke cloud. He's also preoccupied by his callously ambitious wife, his rebellious children and his elderly mother who refuses to capitulate to his desperate desire to invisibly blend in with society.
We love it, not just because of the playful dual structure, but because Michelle’s writing tackles the monsters - racism, misogyny, ageism - with keen observations and biting humour, shining a light not just on how society treats newcomers, but how we relate to our idea of our shared history, and what kind of future will be built from the world we live in now.
As stock markets tumble again, Trump calls for interest rate cut, but the head of the US central bank suggests otherwise. Also, fourteen Ukrainians die in a Russian missile attack, and the rat sniffing out landmines.
On the banks of the St Lawrence River in Quebec stands a 100-year-old lighthouse. While initially built to help boats navigate one of Canada’s most difficult waterways, the Point-de-Père site now also holds a different responsibility: it is a key reference for measuring sea levels around the entire North America continent.
But this is all set to change. With the development of new satellite technology, the tricky task of measuring sea levels is being updated - which could mean mountains around North America get brand new official heights.
In this episode we revisit a question from CrowdScience listener Beth, who wondered about the elevation signs she saw scattered along a mountainous road, indicating how high above sea level she was. As sea levels rise, will all the elevation signs need repainting? And how do you measure sea level, anyway?
The height of an enormous pile of rock like Ben Nevis, or Mount Everest feels unchangeable. But we measure them relative to the nearest patch of sea, which is where our story becomes complicated. Unlike water in a bath, sea level is not equal around the world. In fact, nothing on earth - not the sea, the shore or the mountains - is stable or constant, so the question of what you measure from and to becomes incredibly tricky. But that hasn’t stopped scientists risking life and fingers to use an ever-evolving array of technologies to find answers.
Join host Marnie Chesterton as she dives into the mechanics of the latest sea level technology, and how it could make a big difference to understanding our unpredictable world.
Presenter: Marnie Chesterton Producer: Julia Ravey and Marnie Chesterton Editor: Cathy Edwards Production Co-ordinator: Ishmael Soriano and Jana Holesworth Studio Manager: Emma Harth
(Image: Elevation Sign Post, Rocky Mountain National Park. Credit: Stephanie Beverungen via Getty Images.)
What happens next for Ukraine? The Global News Podcast teams up with Ukrainecast for a special Q&A. We discuss the prospects of peace in Ukraine, Donald Trump’s involvement, and security fears in Europe.
We take a closer look at the impact of the newly imposed US tariffs and hear from Lesotho - at 50% it is one of the hardest hit countries. Does the small landlocked country have a backup plan for its industries?
Algeria says it shot down a military drone near the border with Mali, while Mali says one of its unmanned aircraft crashed. The incident comes amid escalating tensions between Algeria and its southern neighbour. So why have the two countries grown apart?
And why are so few wildlife safaris owned and run by black people on the continent? We hear from one Ugandan man who went from being a tour guide, to setting up his own successful safari business.
Presenter: Audrey Brown Producers: Sunita Nahar, Amie Liebowitz and Yvette Twagiramariya Senior Producer: Patricia Whitehorne Technical Producer: Pat Sissons Editors: Alice Muthengi and Andre Lombard