Beyond Today

Office space company We Work have just released their prospectus ahead of their stock market flotation next month. Their vision of the future of work is a utopian one forged from the Silicon Valley tech boom. It’s a vision of work-based community that some say creates a culture of ‘hustle porn.’ We speak to Wall Street Journal business podcast presenter Kim Gittleson about whether they can deliver on their promises. We also speak to Maddy Savage about modern work culture and how striving for perfection has permeated many aspects of millennial life. She reports from Sweden, the capital of work-life balance, where a growing number of young people are seeking help for clinical ‘burnout.’

Producers: Lucy Hancock, Duncan Barber, Sean Allsop

Earlier this month, India imposed a media blackout in Kashmir while they stripped the region of its autonomy, causing panic, outrage and protests. As the tensions between India and Pakistan escalate, we look at how we got here and what could happen next. And what does Priyanka Chopra have to do with it? Yogita Limaye, the BBC’s India correspondent, and BBC Pakistan and Afghanistan Correspondent Secunder Kermani assess whether the intractable conflict can ever be solved.

Producers: Harriet Noble, Jessica Beck and Duncan Barber

Arous was an idyllic holiday resort on Sudan’s Red Sea coast, a slice of paradise offering an escape to up to 30 scuba-diving tourists in the late 1970s and early 1980s. But it held a secret, one so outlandish it’s just been made into a Netflix movie. The BBC news website’s Middle East Editor Raffi Berg tells us a tale of espionage, exodus and wind-surfing.

Producer: Harriet Noble

Everyone who has heard the story of a woman on a Tinder date spending £15,000 on wine at the Shard seems to have loved it. The voice note has whipped around social media. But as soon as you’ve heard it you start to wonder if it’s true. Nesta McGregor from Radio 1’s Newsbeat tells us how some fairly basic research revealed it as false. We pick up the investigation and attempt to track down the source of the story while David Robson, author of ‘Intelligence Trap’, tells us about the origins and enduring appeal of urban myths.

Producers: Lucy Hancock and Jaja Muhammad

The average student debt after a three year degree course in England is £50,000. It’s a large sum that can be off-putting when you hear tales of jobless graduates and self-made entrepreneurs. Student debt is lower in Wales and Northern Ireland and less still in Scotland where you don’t pay fees, but even here student debt has doubled in the last decade.

In this episode we speak to Natalie Olah. She’s written a book - based on her experience at university and after - called ‘Steal As Much As You Can’. It’s a sort of self-help guide aimed at people from less well-off backgrounds navigating higher education and professional life.

We also speak to Chris Havergal, news editor at the Times Higher Education Supplement, about the options young people have as students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland get their A Level results this week, as do those studying level 3 BTEC qualifications.

Producer: Duncan Barber

The financier Jeffrey Epstein was in a Manhattan prison awaiting trial for sex trafficking when he was found dead in his cell last weekend. The multi-millionaire moved in the richest social circles with people like Donald Trump, Bill Clinton and Prince Andrew. But with his death, apparently by suicide, how much can we really know? And will his victims ever find justice? Nada Tawfik, the BBC reporter in New York following the case, tells us the details of Epstein’s life and crimes. And we hear from Spencer Kuvin, an attorney who represented some of Epstein’s victims.

Producers: Harriet Noble and Jessica Beck

Last week Championship side Derby County announced Wayne Rooney, the former England captain, would be joining the team as a player-coach on a reported £100,000-a-week contract and will wear the number 32. Derby also secured a “record-breaking sponsorship” deal with the online casino 32Red. The news has raised questions about football’s links to gambling at a time when the industry is booming and smartphones have made it easier to place bets than ever before. So, is the transfer more than just a savvy football deal?

BBC 5Live reporter Katie Shanahan tells us about the two teams — Huddersfield and Derby — who collaborated with betting firms this summer. We also speak to sport finance expert Dr Dan Plumley about how much the gambling industry contributes, and comedian Lloyd Griffith about what a healthier relationship between football and the bookies could look like.

Cyntoia Brown was 16 when she was jailed for life for murder. This week she walked free after the Governor of Tennessee granted her clemency. She was backed by a number of powerful celebrities including Kim Kardashian who used social media to highlight her case as part of a campaign to get young black Americans out of unfair jail sentences. We speak to Samantha Schmidt from the Washington Post about the details of the case. We also hear from Kevin Sharp, former judge who went to the White House with Kim Kardashian.

Producers: Philly Beaumont, Jessica Beck

“There is no plan for no deal because we are going to get a great deal.” That’s what Boris Johnson, then Foreign Secretary, said in July 2017. A no-deal Brexit was once a fringe idea, but it’s now what Johnson’s government is working towards to fulfil his pledge to leave the EU by the end of October.

So has no deal become inevitable? Daniel Kraemer has been working on this for the last four months in the BBC’s Westminster newsroom. He tells us how Brexit has come down to a political showdown between two middle aged Conservative politicians called Dominic – one working towards no deal and the other trying to stop it. We also hear about the emotional appeal of no deal from Fintan O’Toole, the Irish journalist and author of ‘Heroic Failure: Brexit and the Politics of Pain’.

Producer: Duncan Barber.

Boris Johnson’s government is “turbo-charging” plans for leaving the EU without a deal at the end of October. People are asking each other if we’re going to have enough food, whether they should be stockpiling tins and if it’s going to cost more money. Companies are stockpiling ingredients and today supermarkets have asked the government to change the law so they can work together to stop stuff running out after 31 October.

David Gregory-Kumar tells us lamb farmers are particularly worried that a new tariff on exports could lead to a mass cull of Brexit lambs. We also speak to Daniel Saladino about what fresh tomatoes tell us about the intricate food system we’ve built, and in what way we rely on Europe for the sunshine, the labour and even the bees that fertilise our food.