Does becoming a surrogate mother exploit or empower a woman? UK surrogacy law is under review, and there's a renewed debate around how it should be regulated. The war in Ukraine highlighted this, as the spotlight shone on the surrogate mothers, the babies they'd given birth to, and the overseas parents struggling to collect

Producer Caroline Bayley

Is a protest march worth your effort? About a million people attended the Stop the War street protest in 2003. About half a million had marched to protest against the fox hunting ban a year earlier. More recently, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets to demonstrate against the decision to leave the EU. Nonetheless, the Iraq war happened, the hunting ban remains and Britain did leave the EU. James Tilley, a professor of politics at Oxford, finds out if street protests achieve anything, why people take part and what effect they have on politicians and voters.

Are we past the point of no return when it comes to our obsession with online technology? Elaine Moore considers her own tech use and explores our future in the metaverse.

According to a YouGov poll, the majority of Brits can’t get through dinner without checking their phone. Children and young adults can now be treated on the NHS for ‘gaming and internet addiction’. So, with the arrival of the metaverse, which promises to seamlessly blend our real and virtual worlds, are we facing a future which could potentially turbocharge this issue?

Elaine asks if addiction to technology is real, and as it becomes more entwined in our everyday lives, what’s being done about it? Speaking to addiction specialists, tech experts, and others, she finds out how we can live more harmoniously with technology and develop healthier relationships with our screens.

With contributions from:

Anna Lembke, Professor of Psychiatry at Stanford University School of Medicine and author of 'Dopamine Nation'.

Dr Rebecca Lockwood from the National Center for Gaming Disorder.

Catherine Price, science journalist and founder of ScreenLifeBalance.com.

Professor of AI and Spatial Computing, David Reid.

Producer: Craig Templeton Smith

Throughout the 1960s and 1970s, the United Kingdom was sometimes characterised as the 'sickman of Europe' due to industrial strife and poor economic performance compared to other European countries.

Today, inflation is once again rising and growth is forecast to slow considerably and economists predict that the UK could suffer a greater hit to living standards next year than any other major European country.

BBC economics correspondent Dharshini David asks just how hard the times ahead will be and how might we find a cure to avoid the mantle of 'sick man of Europe' once more?

Producer: Caroline Bayley

Is formal childcare for pre-school children there to provide an early years education? Or to allow parents to go out to work?

Politicians would say both, but many argue the UK’s system is failing to do either.

Charlotte McDonald explores what improvements could be made and ask – do we want a big overhaul of our current system?

The Bank of England says inflation might reach 11 per cent this year. There are warnings that some people will have to choose between heating and eating.

But what does it mean for the whole economy when prices just keep rising? In the 1970s inflation in the UK led to prices and wages spiralling as workers fought for wages that would keep up with prices.

Those years were dominated by waves of strikes and social unrest as inflation became embedded in the economic system. The current situation is being exacerbated by Covid 19, the war in Ukraine and Brexit so is there anything that government can do to stop it? How bad could it get? And are the days of low inflation gone forever?

Reporter Philip Coggan talks to:

Producer: Claire Bowes

Some countries have legalised cannabis, often with the hope of kick-starting a lucrative new source of tax revenue - but just how profitable has it been?

Aside from a few fact-finding trips, the prospect of legalising cannabis is not on the political agenda here in the UK - but could it be missing out?

Advocates say it's a bad call to let criminals continue to profit when legal businesses and the government could reap the financial rewards instead. Opponents counter that no amount of money is worth the associated public health risks.

But in the past decade countries including Canada, Malta, Uruguay and parts of the United States have decided to embrace the so-called green rush.

But how is it working out for them economically and what lessons could other places considering legalisation learn?

Reporter Datshiane Navanayagam talks to:

Christopher Snowden, Head of Lifestyle Economics at the Institute of Economic Affairs

Adam Spiker, executive director of a cannabis trade association in California

Amanda Chicago Lewis, a US based investigative reporter covering cannabis

Laura Schultz, executive director of research at Rockefeller Institute of Government in New York

Rishi Malkani, Cannabis Leader at Deloitte

Charlotte Bowyer, Head of Advisory at Hanway Associates

Producer: Ben Carter

In late February, three days after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the German Chancellor Olaf Scholz made a landmark speech in the German parliament, the Bundestag. The invasion, he declared, represented a 'Zeitenwende' - a turning point.

The speech has been much discussed since - was Mr Scholz referring simply to the fact of the invasion, or to the way Germany needed to respond to it?

The speech contained a number of policy statements, the boldest of which was the commitment to set up a 100 billion Euro fund to re-equip Germany's outdated armed forces.

The question now is whether Germany will live up to Mr Scholz' promises, or will the cultural, political and economic bonds that have tied Germany and Russia together get in the way?

Presenter: Caroline Bayley

Digital advertising fuels the digital economy, but is it all based on smoke and mirrors?

Ed Butler investigates what some claim is a massive collective deception - a trillion dollar marketing pitch that simply does not deliver value to any of those paying for it. He asks, do online ads actually work, or could it be that some of the biggest names in global tech are founded on a false prospectus?

Arguments over the value of nationalism seem to have been raging for centuries, even though the nation state as we know it has only become widespread in the last two hundred years.

In this programme, David Edmonds tracks the emergence of the nation state and the debate surrounding it. From post-colonial Ghana to contemporary Britain, we hear what nationalism has meant to different people in different contexts, as well as the social and philosophical principles that underlie it.

Contributors:

Professor Michael Billig, Emeritus Professor of Social Sciences at Loughborough University,

Professor Richard Bourke, professor of the history of political thought, University of Cambridge.

Elizabeth Ohene, former Minister of State in Ghana.

Dr Sandra Obradovic, Lecturer in Psychology, The Open University.

Professor Tariq Modood, director of the Bristol University Research Centre for the Study of Ethnicity and Citizenship.

Dr Sarah Fine, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, University of Cambridge

Producer: Nathan Gower