Beyond Today

Over the weekend the singer Sam Smith released a statement which read: “I’ve decided I am changing my pronouns to THEY/THEM.”

Coming from a pop artist who has sold over 20m records, this felt like a moment where non-binary hit the mainstream. Sam’s post sparked a debate about gender, identity and language.

Tom Rasmussen is a drag queen, writer and actor who identifies as non-binary, and Sam Smith credited Tom for helping them understand what it is to be this. We invited Tom into the Beyond Today studio to talk about pronouns, Celine Dion, and the trickiest conversations they’ve had with their mum.

Producers: Lucy Hancock and Alicia Burrell

Eight years ago, Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad began his brutal crackdown on opponents of his regime. Air strikes have long targeted hospitals, and in the last rebel stronghold of Idlib medics are being forced underground to survive.

Waad Al-Kateab is a Syrian journalist who lived through this in the city of Aleppo. She filmed what it was like surviving as bombs rained down, living in her husband’s hospital and bringing her daughter, Sama, into a war-torn world. Now, with co-director Ed Watts, she’s made a documentary called “For Sama”. They came into the Beyond Today studio to share her story, while the BBC's Middle East correspondent, Quentin Sommerville, explains why this war crime is still happening.

“For Sama” is now in cinemas nationwide and will be broadcast on Channel 4 in October. Thanks to Channel 4 News and ITN Productions for some of the audio featured in this episode.

Producers: Harriet Noble and Seren Jones

Six years since it last aired, the TV series Top Boy is back. Although the show, which revolves around an east London estate and the people who live there, is entirely fictional it was lauded for depicting the reality of inner-city life.

Producers: Seren Jones, Alicia Burrell

Fruit Medley, Cotton Candy and Buttered Popcorn may sound like options on a dessert menu, but they are actually vape flavours. President Trump has just said he wants to ban the sale of all non-tobacco flavoured e-cigarettes in response to an outbreak of a vaping-related illness that has caused the deaths of six people and made 450 ill. We hear from one of them Simah Herman, who shared a photo of herself in a hospital bed as an attempt to warn others of the dangers of vaping. The BBC’s health and science correspondent James Gallagher explains what’s behind the illness and just how dangerous vaping is, and Marie Baca from the Washington Post tells us about Juul, the biggest e-cigarette company in the US.

Producers: Harriet Noble and Stephanie Gabbatt

On the 24th of August, 19-year-old Uyinene Mrwetyana went missing in Cape Town. She had gone to fetch a parcel at the post office. A week later her body was found. She had been raped and murdered. Her death spurred a movement across the country with thousands of people protesting after the most deadly month for violent crimes against women the country has ever seen.

Rebone Masemola is a women’s rights activist in Johannesburg. She talks about the daily struggles of being a woman in South Africa, while the BBC’s Johannesburg correspondent, Milton Nkosi, explains why the country has a deep-rooted culture of violence.

Producers: Seren Jones, Jaja Muhammad

Margaret Atwood’s dystopian novel The Handmaid’s Tale , originally released in 1985, has become a modern-day phenomenon thanks to the recent TV series and explosion of feminist politics. Its sequel The Testaments was released this week with a Harry Potter-esque book launch on Monday, which saw fans queuing round the corner to get their hands on a copy.

We hear from Deborah Frances-White of The Guilty Feminist about how close Margaret Atwood’s story gets to reality. And Marnie Chesterton from Crowdscience gives us the facts behind the real-life global fertility crisis.

Producers: Jessica Beck and Philly Beaumont

In July eight people were convicted for their part in Britain’s biggest ever modern slavery prosecution. The gang were part of an organised crime group from Poland which enslaved hundreds of people.

The victims were tricked into coming to the UK with the promise of work. When they arrived they were forced into menial labour, had no access to their wages and housed in rat-infested accommodation while the gang made an estimated £2m over five years.

We speak to BBC Panorama’s Duncan Staff who followed the story with West Midlands Police, and interviewed many of the victims including Mariusz Rykaczewski, a former soldier who was enslaved, beaten and starved by the gang. He was one of 66 witnesses who provided evidence against the slavers.

We also speak to Caroline Haughey QC, one of the country’s foremost experts on modern slavery and the lead prosecutor for the case. She explains how it took four years to bring the slavers to justice and why this case affects every one of us.

Producers: Alicia Burrell, Philly Beaumont and Duncan Barber

Malcolm Gladwell seems to be everyone’s fantasy dinner guest. Also a contender for America’s greatest intellectual, he’s a Canadian with roots in the UK. The writer and host of the Revisionist History podcast is back with a new book: “Talking to Strangers”. In it he explores what we should know about the people we don’t - and how some of the most infamous cases of recent history stem from people misreading each other. He came to the Beyond Today studio to talk about the importance of slowing down and his fear of running out of ideas.

Producer: Lucy Hancock

MPs came back from their summer break on Tuesday and it already feels like months ago. A lot of politics has happened since then and what with the betrayals, the tears, and the memes it’s become the biggest reality show since Love Island.

It’s difficult to figure out who is really in charge of events at the moment since MPs voted to take over the Brexit process from the Prime Minister. To help us understand what’s happened and to prepare us for what seems like an inevitable general election, with just 56 days to go before the Brexit deadline, we spoke to Tom McTague. Tom writes for The Atlantic and is co-author of ‘Betting The House: The Inside Story of the 2017 Election’.

Producer: Duncan Barber.

Amid the Brexit chaos, there’s another story that went viral this week. A teenage boy in Bristol has lost his eyesight because of his poor diet. Since leaving primary school, he had been eating only French fries, Pringles and white bread, as well as an occasional slice of ham or a sausage. The story provoked strong opinions about what we should and shouldnt be eating.

We speak to author and journalist Eve Simmons about our complicated national relationship with ‘good’ and ‘bad’ food. Robbie Davison, who runs a social enterprise that provides hot meals for people in poverty, explains what well-meaning people get wrong about poverty and bad diets.

If you feel like you may be affected by issues in this programme, you can find support on the BBC Action Line - https://www.bbc.co.uk/actionline/

Producers: Lucy Hancock, Seren Jones