The Real Story

This week was another dramatic one in the long-running saga of Brexit, with the possibility of a second referendum to solve the political impasse created by the first still widely discussed. Meanwhile on Sunday in Cuba, which is of course not a democracy, citizens will get to vote in a constitutional referendum that is expected to legitimise private business and open the door - if not positively support - gay marriage, and abortion has now been available in Ireland for two months, after Ireland’s ground-breaking vote last year. In a world in which referendums, plebiscites and citizens initiatives are more common than ever, are these forms of direct democracy really an answer to our political problems? Do they enhance or damage representative democracy? Do they satisfy an important right to be heard, or create deeper divisions in society?

This week on The Real Story with Ruth Alexander we ask: Are referendums ever a good idea?

This week was another bad one for the environment, with a major scientific review predicting a mass extinction of insects within a century if current trends continue. Meanwhile, the news on climate change gets more alarming by the day. But when we talk about causes and solutions, do we often miss the big picture? Is the capitalist system underpinning the globalised economy the main culprit in both crises? If so, can those catastrophes only be avoided if capitalism is tamed, or radically reformed? Is the so-called Green New Deal the answer? Or is capitalism the only system that can produce the innovation we now desperately need?

This week on The Real Story with Ritula Shah we ask: Is capitalism killing our planet, or is it our only hope?

The Iranian Revolution of 1979 was a defining moment of the 20th Century. What began as a popular movement to oust the Western backed monarchy, later turned Iran into the world's first Islamic republic. Since then, the Iranian government has been accused of rights abuses, destabilising the region, supporting terrorists and trying to develop nuclear weapons. There have been waves of protests, for differing reasons, at home. And a recent upturn of economic optimism has vanished following President Trump's unilateral withdrawal from the nuclear deal, with the US reimposing far-reaching sanctions.

But despite all the internal tensions and international pressure, the system has survived. How come? What kind of country is Iran today? And does the outside world really understand the country and its people? Ritula Shah is joined by a panel of experts to discuss the state of Iran, years after the revolution.

The United States and the Taliban say they have made significant progress towards ending the war in Afghanistan, with the deal expected to include a withdrawal of foreign forces. In return, the Taliban would agree not to shelter terrorists. But what will that mean for Afghan society? The Taliban’s denial of women's rights is well documented. With foreign forces gone, will women's hard-won rights survive? Can outsiders protect those rights once they have left, or is Afghan civil society now strong enough to take up the fight?

This week Ritula Shah is joined by a panel of experts to discuss how the US pullout will leave Afghan women.

Sudan has been witnessing the biggest anti-government protests in years. They began over a month ago when the government announced plans to reduce subsidies on staples like bread and fuel. But a heavy-handed response by the authorities has led to dozens of deaths and hundreds of arrests. Many are now calling for the resignation of president Omar al-Bashir. With the demonstrations becoming a regular feature across the country, is president Bashir facing the most serious threat to his power? This week, Ritula Shah, is joined by a group of experts to discuss Sudan's popular anger.

Donald Trump’s first foreign trip as US president was to Saudi Arabia - and this week his Secretary of State Mike Pompeo visited the Kingdom. Despite increased strains on the relationship, including the controversial war in Yemen and the murder of the journalist Jamal Khashoggi, the Trump Administration has shown no signs of breaking with Riyadh. Is this fully explained by the trade in oil and arms – or are other factors at work? How important is a shared antipathy to Iran? Are human rights always expendable when trade and strategic interests are in the mix? And why and how did the two countries become so entwined?

This week Celia Hatton asks a panel of experts what is keeping the United States and Saudi Arabia close.

It's an old question, but despite many estimates - based on Frank Drake's famous equation - that our own Milky Way galaxy could contain up to a million alien civilisations, the search for extra-terrestrial intelligence begun in 1961 has so far failed. Funding for SETI - as it's known - has also been a problem, although private money has partly filled the gap. But SETI scientists are now hopeful that, after a 25-year pause, the US Congress will mandate NASA to spend ten million dollars a year, for the next two years, renewing the search.

And it's not all about intelligence, as everyone agrees the discovery of life of any kind on another planet would be astounding - with some of the most exciting developments in this field much closer to home.

This week on The Real Story we ask a panel of space scientists: are we any closer to finding extra-terrestrial life? What new approaches are showing promise? How will we know if we've found it? And what might that life be like?

(Photo: VLA Radio Telescope, New Mexico. Credit: Education Images/UIG/Getty Images)

How do you look ahead in a world which constantly takes us by surprise, sometimes shocks us, often makes us ask 'what happens next?' Who would have predicted that President Trump would, to use his words, fall in love with the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, whose country he had threatened to totally destroy? Who could have imagined that a prominent Saudi journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, would be murdered and dismembered in a Saudi Consulate? And, on a happier note, we’re relieved that, as the year ends, a climate change conference in Poland did manage to save the Paris pact, and maybe our world. The BBC's chief international correspondent, Lyse Doucet talks to correspondents from around the globe about what might happen in the world in 2019.

Guests:

(Image: King Mohammed VI, Melania Trump, Donald Trump, Angela Merkel, Emmanuel Macron and Brigitte Macron. Credit: EPA/BENOIT TESSIER / POOL MAXPPP OUT)

After weeks of protests and violence, France's President Emmanuel Macron has bowed to the yellow vests protestors. First he made an televised address to the nation in which he admitted he had made mistakes. Now he has issued a new budget with financial giveaways. It is not just that he has been spooked by weeks of demonstrations - not unknown in French life - but also that protestors have enjoyed high levels of public support. Their demands combine elements from the left and the right: calls for huge increases in government spending and in wages, coupled with the halving of taxes and tough restrictions on migration. But behind these demands, some people detect the grievances of France's left-behinds, either in small towns or in the countryside, and those at the wrong end of globalisation. Ruth Alexander and a panel of experts discuss Macron's options. Can his concessions satisfy the yellow vests, and if not, where does he go from here? The protestors want to have little to do with politicians but are they playing in to the hands of Marine Le Pen and the far right?

In 2014, the Chinese government issued a document aimed at increasing the amount of 'trust' in society. Today this emerging system is known as China's social credit system - like a credit score but tracking more than financial transactions. China's central government wants to have the system in place across China by 2020, using a range of information -- including shopping habits, driving fines and even what's written on social media -- to rate and rank individuals. People with poor scores could find themselves unable to get bank loans or buy plane tickets. Advocates claim that a system is necessary in a country where few people have credit ratings. But detractors see it as a kind of dystopic super-surveillance. Celia Hatton and a panel of expert guests weighs up the costs and benefits of social credit.

(Photo: A Chinese woman walks along the street holding a broom and dustpan. Credit: Getty Images)