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Becky Ripley and Sophie Ward take a cold hard look at the psychology behind each of the seven deadly sins, in the order established by Pope Gregory the Great: pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and lazy old sloth. Why have we evolved these ugly emotions? What’s going on in the brain and the body when we feel them? And how best can we live alongside them - in ourselves and with others?Lust is today's hot topic. It's crucial to the continuation of our species, but it's also a form of neurochemical madness that can lead us astray. We all have wildly different brains, bodies, and cultural references, so everyone’s relationship to lust is highly personal. Is it true that men want it more than women? When was the "lustiest" time in history? And, back in today's world, how can we navigate our drives alongside cultural expectations and the issue of consent? And how can we feel desire without shame? To guide us through this mess is evolutionary anthropologist Dr Anna Machin from the Department of Experimental

Becky Ripley and Sophie Ward take a cold hard look at the psychology behind each of the seven deadly sins, in the order established by Pope Gregory the Great: pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and lazy old sloth. Why have we evolved these ugly emotions? What’s going on in the brain and the body when we feel them? And how best can we live alongside them - in ourselves and with others?Envy is in the spotlight today. On one hand, it indicates what it is you want, and it motivates you to go out there and get it. On the other hand, it can be a corrosive feeling of yearning that eats you up from the inside. And at its ugliest, it can drive you to seek the destruction of others...How can we listen to our feelings of envy, without being riddled with resentment? And how can we make peace with that restless, nagging feeling that the grass is always greener? To guide us through this mess is evolutionary anthropologist Dr Anna Machin from the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford, psy

Becky Ripley and Sophie Ward take a cold hard look at the psychology behind each of the seven deadly sins, in the order established by Pope Gregory the Great: pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and lazy old sloth. Why have we evolved these ugly emotions? What’s going on in the brain and the body when we feel them? And how best can we live alongside them - in ourselves and with others?Gluttony is on the menu today. On one hand, the odd bit of indulgence isn't such a bad thing. Eat, drink, and be merry. But sometimes we overdo it. We crave, we binge, we short circuit our dopamine reward systems, and before we know it, we can't stop. But why do we crave? Can we control our cravings? And when does a little bit of binging become too much? To guide us through this mess is evolutionary anthropologist Dr Anna Machin from the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford, food writer Mark Schatzker, author of 'Steak', 'The Dorito Effect' and 'The End of Craving', Dr Andrew Moynihan from the

Becky Ripley and Sophie Ward take a cold hard look at the psychology behind each of the seven deadly sins, in the order established by Pope Gregory the Great: pride, greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and lazy old sloth. Why have we evolved these emotions? What’s going on in the brain and the body when we feel them? And how best can we live alongside them - in ourselves and with others?Wrath is today's hot topic, and things can get pretty ugly when our blood starts to boil. Some of us are quick to flip, some of us brood, and some of us push down our anger. But ultimately anger is a motivator; a driver for change in the face of a perceived injustice. The question is, how are you going to act on it? For bad? Or for good?To guide us through this mess is evolutionary anthropologist Dr Anna Machin from the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford, psychology professor Dr Ryan Martin (aka "The Anger Professor"), multidisciplinary artist and former Children's Laureate of Wales, Connor Allen

Becky Ripley and Sophie Ward take a cold hard look at the psychology behind each of the seven deadly sins. Rolling with the order established by Pope Gregory the Great, first up is pride, followed by greed, lust, envy, gluttony, wrath, and (finally) lazy old sloth. Why have we evolved these ugly emotions? What’s going on in the brain and the body when we feel them? And how best can we live alongside them - in ourselves and with others?Pride - also known as the "original sin" - is now a bit of a double-edged word. The good side is motivating and self-affirming: to be proud of your work, your kids, or your identity. But then there’s the ugly side of pride: thinking you’re better than others. Arrogance, narcissism, an inflated sense of superiority. How can we have one without the other? Confidence without arrogance? Self-worth without self-aggrandisement? To guide us through this mess is evolutionary anthropologist Dr Anna Machin from the Department of Experimental Psychology at the University of Oxford, neuros

This is a remarkable true story of how an elderly former engineer met a new partner, who eventually put in a care home without telling his family where he was. His daughter embarked on a long search to track him down - when she finally found him last Christmas he had advanced dementia but recognised her straight away and was overjoyed to see her again. Anyone else might have given up when faced with the obstacles that Carolyn Stephens encountered. Her widowed father met his new partner on a Saga holiday and very quickly Carolyn worried that she was isolating him from family and friends. She was concerned that her dad, Vincent, was losing mental capacity and arranged through his GP for dementia assessments to be organised. The day before his appointment, Vincent Stephens left his home and effectively disappeared from Carolyn's life. Carolyn discovered that he and his new partner had attempted to post wedding bans but had been prevented from doing so by the Chief Registrar for Births Deaths and Marriages, who w

As the individual costs of the EU’s Green Deal are becoming clearer, many people across Europe say they are unwilling or unable to pay the price associated with it. Anna Holligan explores the increasing popularity of anti-green political parties across the continent. She talks to dairy farmers in the Netherlands, who fear government green targets would endanger a sector which makes the country the world's second biggest exporter of food. She also travels to Bremen in Germany where concern over the phasing out of new gas and oil boilers for houses, dubbed the “heating hammer” by the nation’s tabloids, has lead to the government slowing down the pace of change.In the meantime, the city’s Green Party vote fell by almost half in recent local elections while Citizens in Rage, which is highly sceptical about how green deal policies are being implemented, came from almost nowhere to capture close to ten per cent of the vote. The experiences in both countries suggests that the political consensus that seemed to exist

Real Madras, Borussia Moobsandbackfat, OB City, Man Titty, Inter PieAmi, Pork Vale, ScranMere Rovers - all real teams that play in the big league. Man Vs Fat is a football league designed to help men lose weight. The league says it has helped around 23,000 men lose 601,288lbs since it started in 2016. But dropping a few belt notches is not the only thing that has transformed lives Men talking about their mental health is still typically rare - Jay Unger has struggled with his own weight and has played in Man V Fat for a few years. Being part of a fat football community, has helped him and thousands of other men to open up about their mental health and get through some of the most difficult situations in their life Some of the stories are really heart-breaking and difficult to listen to - but ultimately the men in Newport, North Tyneside and Edinburgh Jay meets tell him how a community, brought together by football, has helped them reshape their lives.. Presenter: Jay Unger Producer: Jay Unger Editor: Richar

Three decades after the momentous transition from Apartheid to a democratic South Africa, Fergal Keane returns to see what happened to the hopes and promises of a better nation. In a famous speech thirty years ago, as he collected the Nobel Peace Prize, Nelson Mandela spoke of a “common humanity” in which all South Africans would live “like the children of paradise.”As the BBC’s South Africa correspondent at the time, Fergal Keane, along with his colleague and friend Milton Nkosi, lived through some of the country’s most desperate times. It was a period of extreme violence and loss, but also of great hope.Now Fergal and Milton travel through the country, re-visiting some of the places and people they encountered in the lead up to the end of Apartheid. Through this series they will explore how and why paradise was lost. In this first episode they return to Tembisa, a township on the edges of Johannesburg, searching for Cynthia who they first met one winter's morning in 1993, huddling with her children under pl

George Orwell described tea as “one of the mainstays of civilization in this country.” But how did this foreign plant become so British? Sathnam Sanghera speaks to Orwell expert Jean Seaton, cultural historian Kate Teltscher, and ramblers with flasks of tea in the Peak District, to try and figure out how and why tea became a national obsession. Produced by Paul Martin for BBC Audio Wales

Families from the many sides of the Gaza/Israeli dispute share and reflect on their own personal histories and day-to-day existence.

Within weeks of starting as a weather presenter, Sam Fraser’s arse had its own online fan club and she featured on a YouTube channel called Babes of Britain.She hadn’t imagined that decades after the Fast Show comedy sketch Scorchio, the stereotype of the 'weather girl' still held firm.Despite degrees in meteorology and physics or Met Office training, female weather presenters were still seen as dizzy sidekicks to the news anchor, legitimate targets to be sexualized by the media and harassed.Sam puts down her clicker and asks why is the ‘weather girl’ one of the most fetishized roles in popular culture.She hears about the arrival of women into the industry from John Kettley, one of the first weather presenter gods; the role of Bill Giles’ belly in gender equality from ITV’s Sian Lloyd and about the impact on industry of the fun, sexy, flirty and most enticingly Swedish presenter Ulrika Jonsson.Digging through tabloids she sees they are used as clickbait, portrayed as women deliberately inviting you to look at

The British countryside is often portrayed as a green and pleasant land - a rural idyll. But under the surface, rural culture wars rage: the Right to Roam, veganism, rewilding. Anna Jones is a farmer’s daughter who has worked as a rural affairs journalist for almost 20 years. In this series she uncovers the personal stories of individuals caught up in these battle grounds. In this episode she meets Alistair Macbeth. In the 2010s he’s working as a touring fire-breather with long dreadlocks and living in a van. He’s also a committed vegan. So how did he go from that to running a dairy farm in the Peak District? Presented by Anna Jones Produced for BBC Audio in Bristol by Heather Simons and Anna Jones

Anne McElvoy goes on the road in Italy in the latest in her series exploring the convulsions of political and cultural change sweeping through Europe’s great nations. The election last September of the right wing populist Giorgia Meloni shocked the political establishment. Her declared mission: to restore and defend Italy’s national identity. But what does it mean to be an Italian today? We visit Padua in the North Eastern region of Veneto - a city steeped in ancient culture, boasting the oldest university in Europe and the exquisite frescos of the Scrovegni Chapel. It's also at the heart of Italy's more prosperous North - the engine of the country's economy which draws in migrants from inside and outside Italy. A good place to explore the tensions between the old ways and the new which are rumbling through Italian life in the wake of Meloni's election. Touring the city and its regions, we ask Italians from all walks of life - migrant workers, a female-led design and manufacturing business, a demographer and

Glasgow’s west end is home to the Primrose Path Tattoo Society where ex-service men & women have gravitated to reflect, celebrate and sometimes come to terms with their lives in the military, all while under the artists needle. Tattoos have a long tradition in the military but at the Society, each one is custom designed to reflect the deeply personal and emotional experience. David Selwyn joined the army in 2005 and served on two tours in Afghanistan with 2 Scots, the Royal Highland Fusiliers. He was medically discharged from the army after ten years following a diagnosis of post-traumatic stress disorder and a recurring injury to his shoulder. David has come to the Studio, ahead of Remembrance Day, to get a large and colourful tattoo from artist William Hughes to represent his own army career and the pride in his Regiment. As the artist focuses on his work we share this uniquely intimate relationship where memories good and bad are recalled, shared and sometimes laid to rest. Details of organisations off

Kate Mason looks at how potential can be assessed in the world of professional football with Brentford FC player Michael Olakigbe and talent spotter Lee Dykes. From cycling, Dan Bigham tells us how the potential of technology helped him take on the professionals. Cricketing broadcaster and Director of women’s cricket at Surrey, Ebony Rainford Brent, discusses the Ace programme which helps young people from a range of backgrounds find their potential as cricketers.And we also go back to the 1970s to discover a technique to help us improve our own sporting potential. That idea has now also been widely adopted in business.Presenter: Kate Mason Producer: Julian Siddle

American singer-songwriter Doug Levitt expected his tour to last just the six weeks printed on the face of the Greyhound pass he bought. The idea was to compose a fuller portrait of the United States by writing songs about the lives and struggles of fellow riders. That was over 15 years, 100 songs and 150,000 miles back. Travel by Greyhound is a favored lower-cost option for people who are often just scraping by on the margins of society; many living through profound challenges with employment, family relationships, addiction and incarceration. On the bus, after many hours on the road sitting next to a stranger the stories begin to flow. Maybe it’s the hypnotic rumble of the bus wheels beneath. Or sitting side-by-side staring straight ahead into darkness as passing headlights and taillights streak by.Coming from disparate lives, our stories are where we meet, they are the crossroads of human experience. In 2018, Levitt traveled with radio producer David Goren on a cross-country trip for Greyhound Diaries, and

In 2013, broadcaster and journalist Krupa Padhy, one of the presenters for BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, lost her first child because of medical negligence in a London Hospital. Legal action was taken. Midwives and doctors were given extra training. Lessons were, apparently, learned. But Krupa's life has been changed forever. Over the last few years, systemic failures at multiple maternity units have been uncovered: at Morecambe Bay, Shrewsbury and Telford and East Kent. An investigation is currently underway in Nottingham and there are calls for a review in Leicester. Krupa wants to know what is happening in our maternity wards and how we make them safer. Producer: Caitlin Smith Researcher: Anna Miles Execs: Peter McManus and Clare Fordham Sound design: Eloise Whitmore

Ex-offender Ricky Gleeson has set up HoodEx, a new sustainable clothing charity in South Shields, Tyne and Wear. Ricky has a remarkable back story – a deeply troubled, chequered past. His mother was in her teens when she had him, a single parent who struggled to cope with life. She became addicted to drugs and alcohol and had a series of difficult relationships. As a child, Ricky was moved from domestic abuse shelters to foster homes and eventually to children’s homes and hostels. He ended up homeless, at times living rough and turning to petty crime. Somehow, he managed to turn his life around. He joined the Royal Navy, took up boxing, became a husband and father and found his way to a new life. And now in his 40s, he wants to help others who are in the same place as he was in. As he struggles to find suitable premises for his charity venture, he revisits some of the keys places in his past life. Producer: Mohini Patel

Mysterious plants appear on the Isle of Rum. Do they prove the island miraculously escaped the Ice Age? And what extraordinary lengths would one scientist go to in order to prove that it did? Dr Tori Herridge investigates. Produced for BBC Audio Bristol by Beth Sagar-Fenton