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James Crabtree has spent nearly 15 years tracking politics in Asia as an author, journalist and analyst. In that time, one small island - separated from mainland China by a hundred miles of water - has remained the most dangerous point of contention in the world’s most important relationship. Now, he argues, something has shifted.

Two developments over the past couple of years have made an already precarious situation even more volatile - the return of President Trump and the boom in AI. Taiwan holds a monopoly on the production of the world’s most advanced semi-conductors. This creates an imperative for the West to defend it, a position referred to by analysts as “Silicon Shield”. Recently though, Trump has referred to the island as a “negotiating chip”, and a $14bn arms package has been put on hold ahead of meeting with Xi Jinping in September.

James hears from experts in Taipei, Beijing and Washington. From Pentagon insiders to tech entrepreneurs, spanning continents and party lines, he asks whether the world is moving towards conflict over this small island territory. Moving beyond the headlines, he tackles what Taiwan is actually thinking at this crucial moment and how we can begin to make sense of Beijing’s thinking when it comes to a purported amphibious invasion.

Crucially, he looks at how the ripples are likely to impact us all. Does Taiwan’s technology offer protection or a target? Who is likely to decide its fate? And what can this decision tell us about power on the global stage?

Presenter: James Crabtree

A 2 Degrees West production for BBC Radio 4

More than a thousand youth clubs have closed their doors since 2010. Local government spending on youth services was slashed by around three-quarters during the age of austerity leaving a generation of young people without places to play. The former youth worker turned journalist Neil Maggs considers the impact of these cuts and examines new government plans to spend £500m to revitalise the youth sector.

Neil hears from young people at the youth club where he started his career in Barton Hill in Bristol. Emma Warren who has written a social history of youth clubs in Britain in her book "Up The Youth Club" talks about their role as engines of creativity. Youth clubs gave rise to Two Tone music in Coventry as well as Banksy and the graffiti scene in Bristol She reveals that the origins of youth clubs began with the charitable activities of private schools and discusses how a Conservative government in the 1960s gave youth clubs a major boost after the intervention of the aristocrat and social reformer Lady Albermarle. Dr Tania de St Croix from King's College London and Dr Carmen Villa from the Institute for Fiscal Studies give context on the effects of closing youth clubs.

In Manchester, Neil looks at the hub-and-spoke model the government is piloting as the future of youth clubs. Smaller clubs form spokes that feed into integrated youth hubs where broader services are offered. He tours a new youth club in the Crumpsall area as well as a revitalised hub in Moss Side and asks whether youth clubs are back for good.

Produced by Robin Markwell for BBC Audio in Bristol

Xi Jinping is known to be a ruthless leader. In the last five years alone, China’s richest man, Jack Ma, China’s defence minister and the country’s foreign minister have all abruptly disappeared - some never to be seen in public again. Millions of Communist officials have been purged since Xi came to power.

Almost a year after he was last seen in public, and with 'strong man' politics on the increase, Celia Hatton investigates why Zhang was purged and looks inside and outside China for answers.

She discovers there's a kind of pattern that dictators and autocratic rulers use to hold on to power. And this, she argues, can be a useful tool in predicting global military aggression.

Presenter: Celia Hatton

In June 2026, racist violence erupted across Northern Ireland. Masked groups circulated lists of homes where people of colour were believed to be living, forcing more than a hundred people to flee.

As houses burned around her, Maria barricaded herself inside with her two teenage daughters, filling buckets, mugs and the bath with water in case their home was attacked.

Then across Belfast, other networks formed. When community workers, like Clare and Ciara, recognised the addresses of food bank users on the target lists, they got into their cars and began moving families to safety. It was organised via an improvised WhatsApp group, which brought together drivers, spare rooms, food and emergency support.

For Ciara, the rescue carried a painful echo - she found herself driving along the same street where her own family had been burned out during the Troubles decades earlier.

Tara Mills tells the story of the ordinary people who mobilised against the violence using WhatsApp groups and hears from the communities still living with its consequences.

A Walk On Air Films production for BBC Radio 4

Across the country love for Pride events is waning. Councils are pulling funding saying that cash is better spent on potholes and emptying the bins and big companies, once eager to be associated with the Pride are withdrawing their support - and money.

Last year the company that ran Manchester Pride went out of business owing millions of pounds, the bars of the city's world famous gay village on Canal Street are funding a a new grass roots celebration. Across the country Prides are smaller, less corporate and in some cases just cancelled altogether

Darren Milby asks why it is that our allyship with LBTBQ+ rights seems to be weaker and investigates what the trans debate has got to do with it?

Producer and Presenter: Darren Milby

As a journalist, historian, constitutional scholar and member of the House of Lords, Peter Hennessy has been observing British public and political life for more than 50 years. But now he's retiring from the House of Lords, and as he does he's struck by the rancour that is corroding our politics. What, he has been asking himself, can we do to restore decency to the heart of political conversation?

In this programme Peter has been putting that question to people who have thought about decency and how we might encourage it. And he's invited them to do it at his house over a cup of tea. From former Prime Minister John Major to Whitehall Fixer Louise Casey, Reform MP Danny Kruger to National Education Union leader Daniel Kebede, the doorbell has rung with its jaunty tune and Peter has sat down to hear what has gone wrong, how a decency economy has emerged on YouTube, and how we might encourage what he calls a 'decency bias' in public life.

Producer: Giles Edwards.

People who've had to abandon their homes because of the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah, explain what life is like in Lebanon, a country which has been repeatedly hit by war. A social worker describes how she thinks most Lebanese citizens now keep a bag of important belongings packed and ready to go by their front door in case they need to leave home at a moment's notice. A mother is close to tears talking about having to rearrange her daughter's fourth birthday party because of the imminent threat of missile strikes. Israel's military forces are currently occupying southern parts of Lebanon. They say they're there for the purposes of self-defence and to destroy Hezbollah's military capabilities. It's estimated a million people have had to move out of their homes as a result. It's not clear when or if those people will get to return or whether they will still have homes to go back to.

Presenter: Carine Torbey

England’s men's football team is once again preparing to shoulder the hopes of millions across the nation. A World Cup is traditionally a time to come together, but this tournament takes place in a tense political moment, when the question of who is – and isn’t - English is being contested.

Should Englishness be linked to ancestry and ethnicity, to living in the country for generations, as some senior political figures claim? Is Englishness conditional? If so, on what? Should anyone living in England be able to claim national identity? Why is Englishness so hard to define?

Newsnight's Political Editor Nick Watt reports from the frontlines of the battle for Englishness, speaking to senior figures in politics and cultural commentators. He visits Castle Point in Essex, the area where the most people chose English as their national identity in the 2021 census.

He hears from the Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, Labour's Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy and the writer and GB News presenter Matt Goodwin.

The interviews took place before Vickrum Digwa was jailed for the murder of Henry Nowak.

Credit: The TRIGGERnometry podcast and YouTube show, produced and presented by Konstantin Kisin and Francis Foster

Producer: Leela Padmanabhan

A personal account of day-to-day life in Iran told through the calls of two Iranian sisters – one in the UK, the other in the Iranian city of Shiraz. Since the outbreak of war at the end of February, a near total internet blackout and a shutdown of international phone lines by the Iranian authorities has meant limited information has got out of the country. Despite the risks involved, the sisters have made recordings of their conversations which have been shared with the BBC. They discuss when the bombs land, the destruction of places they love and the realities of an economy that’s being brought to its knees. They struggle to sleep at night. Salaries don’t come through. It’s a roller coaster of emotions. But there are also moments of calm and comfort…a spot of dark humour and the scent of hyacinths.

Actors:

Presenter: Caroline Hawley

Sunil was 26 when he went to work on a ship for the first time. He travelled from Rajasthan, India to a port in Dubai for a job on an oil tanker. When he boarded the ship, he met Dalip, who was from a neighbouring village. They helped support each other when they felt homesick, working on a ship so far from home for the first time. But then a few weeks into their contract, Sunil heard a loud bang and felt the ship shake. He ran to the deck and saw oil spreading across the floor and smoke rising from the engine room. Someone told him an Iranian missile had hit their ship. As the oil spread, Sunil feared for his life and jumped into the ocean. He stayed calm until he realised Dalip wasn’t there...

Presenter: Kayleen Devlin

(Image: Smoke billows from the Sky Light. Credit: Sunil Puniya)