Podcast appearances and mentions of lesley curwen

This episode of the poetry podcast features poets David McLoghlin, Elizabeth Kate Switaj, Mary Ringland and Behind the Storms with Lesley Curwen. Hosted and produced by Damien B Donnelly

Lesley Curwen is a poet, broadcaster and sailor who lives in Plymouth. She writes about loss and rescue, and is drawn to the sea as a source of comfort and deep joy.  Her new collection 'Rescue Lines' deals with traumas around forced adoption and coercive control. It is about finding, and losing a sister.  She won the Molecules Unlimited Poetry Prize, was a finalist in the Wales Poetry Award and has an eco-chapbook, 'Sticky with Miles' from Dreich Press.  Her poems have been published by Bad Lilies, Black Bough, Broken Sleep, Atrium, Spelt, The Alchemy Spoon and Ice Floe Press.     Her website is www.lesleycurwenpoet.com and she is often on X (Twitter) as @elcurwen.  'Rescue Lines' is available from Hedgehog Poetry Press here:   

Kate Adie presents stories from the US, Russia, Afghanistan, Germany and BhutanIt's been a week of high drama in Manhattan as Donald Trump's former ally and fixer, Michael Cohen took to the witness stand in the former President's criminal trial. Kayla Epstein was watching events unfold in the courtroom in New York and reflects on what it might mean for Donald Trump's re-election chances.A new front opened up in Russia's invasion of Ukraine this week, as Russian troops made gains in the country's north-east. Ukraine is still suffering from a lack of ammunition and personnel, even as the US long-promised aid begins to filter through to the frontline. Vitaliy Shevchenko has been finding out how Russian troops are being supplemented by fighters from Cuba.It's been nearly three years since the Taliban took back control of Afghanistan in a rapid offensive. Since then, the freedoms that women had come to know, such as the right to education and work have been curtailed. John Kampfner has met one woman who embarked on a perilous journey to CanadaThe island of Fehmarn, off Germany's north-east coast is something of an oasis for holidaymakers. But it's also soon to be the entrance to the world's longest underwater rail and road tunnel which will for the first time connect Germany to Denmark. Lesley Curwen has been speaking to some of the locals about how it will impact their way of life.At soaring altitudes, foragers in the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan seek out a special parasitic fungus, highly prized for its therapeutic qualities. Sara Wheeler's been hearing about the special status afforded to those who harvest the delicacy.Editor: Bridget Harney Series Producer: Serena Tarling Production Coordinator: Janet Staples

A few years ago you could have assumed all diamonds had been dug out of the ground – but now it's true that some of them have been created, at unbelievably high temperatures, in just a matter of weeks. In the first of two Business Daily programmes about the evolving diamond market, Lesley Curwen heads to the glamorous jewellery district of Hatton Garden in London – to see how the jewellery world is being re-shaped by the mass production of laboratory-made stones. We hear from India how they're created in temperatures as hot as the sun - and talk to one of the world's biggest jewellery brands about why they are using only man-made diamonds. We also look at claims that man-made diamonds are the green and ethical choice. (Picture: Tweezers holding a diamond. Credit: Getty Images) Presenter: Lesley Curwen Producer: Barbara George

 This week the guests are Anthony Lenihan, Liza Costello, Lesley Curwen, Mark McCann, Mike Gordon, Glen Hubbard, Beth Bonness. Hosted by Damien B Donnelly

In 2002, Lesley Curwen arrived in Siberia to see the inner workings of Gazprom. Hear how she found a business that felt more like an empire of its own, with 300 thousand workers and the largest gas reserves on the planet. Back then Gazprom was eager to be taken seriously abroad, and to sell more of its gas to Europe. Which it did. This year, war in Ukraine changed everything when Gazprom's political master Vladimir Putin turned off the gas taps to Poland, Bulgaria and Finland. In this programme Lesley investigates how Gazprom has changed over the past 20 years, what it's reputation is as a company, and what it's future might look like. Presenter: Lesley Curwen Producer: Carmel O'Grady Image: Lesley Curwen in Siberia in 2002; Credit: Lesley Curwen / BBC

Several European Union countries are holding out against a ban on importing Russian oil. EU leaders have been meeting in Brussels seeking a compromise, which may mean blocking imports by ship but continuing with pipeline imports. Dr Adi Imsirovic is an energy analyst who was once head of oil at Gazprom Marketing and Trading, which sold the state-owned Russian energy giant's products around the world. He tells us what he expects to see agreed in Brussels. And the BBC's Lesley Curwen examines the changing role of Gazprom in the global energy markets over the past 20 years. Also in the programme, authorities in Shanghai are to lift the city's two-month lockdown from Wednesday. Don Weinland covers Chinese business and finance for The Economist, and explains what everyday life is like in Shanghai right now. Plus, the fast fashion retailer Missguided is on the verge of collapse. Fashion business expert Maria Malone tells us what it says about the state of the global fast fashion industry. Today's edition is presented by Mike Johnson, and produced by Sarah Hawkins and Gabriele Shaw.

The collapse of the US energy giant Enron remains one of the most dramatic scandals in modern capitalism, but 20 years on did we learn any of the lessons from the fall of a corporate giant? The BBC's Lesley Curwen covered the story every step of the way back in the 2000's right up to the company's collapse, and the jailing of some of its most senior executives. She takes Ed Butler back through Enron's tale of deceit, intimidation and collapse with archive and fresh interviews with some of the scandal's key figures. And Ed hears from Dr Howard Schilit, of Schilit Forensics accountancy firm, a witness at Enron's Senate hearing and a man with a serious warning for the corporate world, two decades on from the Enron scandal. Picture Credit: Getty Images

Amid concern about tennis player Peng Shuai, the WTA has suspended its China tennis events. We explore the financial implications with Dr Dan Plumley, lecturer in sport finance at Sheffield Hallam University. Also in the programme, 20 years on from the collapse of the US energy giant Enron, the BBC's Lesley Curwen considers whether lessons have been learned from the fall of a corporate giant. Plus, the Omicron variant of coronavirus is causing concern for some companies about whether to proceed with Christmas party plans. We find out more from Alex Hewitt, chief executive of AOK Events, which plans parties for corporate clients. Today's edition is presented by Rob Young, and produced by Gareth Barlow, Nisha Patel, Philippa Goodrich and Vishala Sri-Pathma. (Picture: Peng Shuai. Picture credit: EPA.)

Twenty years ago, the brash Texan energy company Enron collapsed after its massive fraud was finally exposed. Investors and pension funds worldwide lost billions of dollars. The case was meant to signal a sea-change in the way businesses were policed. How difficult would it be to weave a similar web of financial deceit today? Lesley Curwen travels to the dark side of business to find out whether it is still just as easy to fleece investors – which in the end means us – out of our money.

The combined miseries of an economic crunch, a spike in Covid infections and simmering long-standing frustration drove hundreds of people to speak out in public last weekend. The Cuban government often brings out the crowds for mass demonstrations of revolutionary will – but it cracks down hard and fast on any shows of organised dissent. Will Grant has been sensing the pressure mount for months. The world was horrified by scenes from the pandemic in India – but there was less global attention paid to Bangladesh. Covid has utterly changed daily life and families' fortunes there, too – especially since the country imposed its strictest lockdown yet at the start of this month. New infections and deaths are now at record levels and still rising – and there's fear that people fleeing the restrictions in cities will be soon spread the virus in the countryside. Akbar Hossein has been considering the balance of risks. Clearing out a property after relatives have died can be a bittersweet experience, fusing nostalgia with grief. It's harder still when the house is in a different country. Lesley Curwen has back been to the villa in Valencia where her mother and stepfather used to live – and noticed that many of the old certainties of their comfortable ex-pat circle in Spain are eroding. This summer, Russia has been staging dozens of official events to mark 800 years since the birth of a national hero: the warrior prince and later saint Alexander Nevsky, renowned for his military success and tactical genius. There's a clear message being driven home as his relics journey across the country from church to church - as Francis Scarr saw in the city of Tver. We've all had to rethink what balance between isolation and social contact suits us best over the past year and a half. But perhaps not many people have reconfigured their professional and domestic set-up as Stephanie Theobald. She's been living in a cave - as part of an experimental commune in the California desert. Producer: Polly Hope

In the latest programme, Mishal Husain introduces dispatches from journalists and writers reflecting the range of life across the UK. She begins and ends in Edinburgh. First, the BBC's Social Affairs Correspondent, Michael Buchanan, reveals how a renowned city centre doctor is using one public health emergency - Covid-19 - to tackle another - drug-related deaths among the homeless. Could a notoriously difficult medical and social problem prove amenable to new approaches? Cabin fever is a literal risk for those living aboard narrow boats at the moment. And while self-sufficiency is a characteristic of those who live afloat, as Lois Pryce has been discovering among users on the Grand Union Canal, their ingenuity is being tested by the relatively prosaic requirements for water and fuel. It's once again possible for those in England who are looking to move house to visit potential new homes in person. What, though, of those who are already part of a chain with buyers and sellers ready to go ahead? Lesley Curwen, a business reporter for more than three decades, finds herself in just that situation. Will she make her dream move to the West Country or will there be a last-minute hitch? Foster carers become accustomed to all types of placements. Emily Unia's parents have decades of experience but even so it's been special for them to share the last several weeks with a young boy and his baby sister who arrived just days before lockdown. She reveals how they've all been coping. And, back in the Scottish capital, Christopher Harding provides an amusing insight into the world of home schooling as his three children adjust to their new teachers and lessons. How do the ambitions of the new staff fare amid the realities of the schoolroom? Producer: Simon Coates

The oil price has crashed - for a while some producers were even paying customers to take it away. It's like no oil shock the industry has ever seen before. Lesley Curwen sets out to discover what difference cheap oil will make to our lives. Which jobs are at risk? Will there be a knock-on effect on our household finances - utility bills and pensions for example? And as lockdowns slowly start to ease, could it change how much we rely on oil for good? Presenter: Lesley Curwen Producer: Beth Sagar-Fenton Picture Credit: Colin McPherson/Corbis via Getty Images)

French prosecutors announced this week that say they have started an investigation into the business activities of the Maltese magnate charged with complicity to murder the journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia. It’s just the latest development in a scandal that shocked Europe and led to the resignation of Malta’s prime minister last month. The inquiry in Paris is a response to allegations by the reporter’s family that, Jorgen Fenech, one of the island richest businessmen, used cash from property deals and racehorses in France to bribe Maltese officials. Juliet Rix is a frequent visitor to Malta. She reflects on how the European Union’s smallest country has changed …and not for the better. The coronavirus epidemic is adding to tensions in Hong Kong, a city already riven by seven months of anti government protests. As the number of infections rise, many are clamouring for the territory to seal itself off from the Chinese mainland. Last week, public hospital employees went on strike to try and force the authorities to close all border crossings. Some Mandarin speaking mainlanders feel unwelcome and relations with Hong Kongers are increasingly strained as Vincent Ni discovered at a delicious but difficult dinner party. India’s once tigerish economy is flagging. And there’ve been suggestions that growth figures were over-estimated for years, hiding what’s been called by one leading economist ‘the great slowdown.’ But the government of Narendra Modi’s BJP party remains relentlessly optimistic. Lesley Curwen who’s just back from Delhi and Hyderabad has been testing the water. Pope Francis dampened hopes among reformist Catholics that he was on the point of relaxing the centuries-old celibacy rule for the clergy – despite a shortage of priests in many parts of the world including the Amazon. There was even speculation that he might allow women to celebrate Mass. But there was no mention of such changes in the papal document. It seems, says David Willey, that Pope Francis has opted to focus not on the internal issue of celibacy but the external challenge of climate change. There has been much soul searching about how smartphones have killed the art of conversation. The texting culture, the argument goes, is making us lazier, shallower and less literate. But sooner or later slang ends up in the Oxford English Dictionary. Andrew Harding grudgingly admits that language evolves and that common usage eventually becomes correct usage unless you’re a dyed-in-the-wool pedant.

Lesley Curwen reports on the magical aura that has been drawing so many people around the world to pay for “regenerative” therapies which harness the healing power of stem cells. In this programme, she reports on the battle of regulators in the USA and in Australia to stop unproven and risky therapies harming patients. Featuring: Texas lawyer Hartley Hampton; Galen Dinning; stem cell researcher and host of The Niche blog, Professor Paul Knoepfler from the University of California, Davis School of Medicine; Dr Sean Morrison, Professor of Paediatrics at the University of Texas South Western and former president of the global body representing stem cell researchers the ISSCR; Laura Beil, host of the Wondery podcast, Bad Batch; Peter Marks of the Food and Drug Administration, the FDA; Professor Megan Munsie from Stem Cell Australia and chair of the ISSCR Ethics Committee; Dr Sarah Chan from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland. (Picture: Stem cells are undifferentiated cells that can specialized through mitosis to many other cell types of multicellular organisms. Credit: selvanegra/Getty Images)

Stem cells are cells with superpowers. They can become many different types of cells in our bodies, from muscle cells to brain cells, and some can even repair tissue. But the remarkable promise of this exciting new field of medicine has led to a new booming market of private clinics, which offer to treat a range of conditions (from arthritis to autism) using regenerative therapies which they claim harness the healing powers of stem cells. In this first of two programmes, Lesley Curwen investigates this expanding industry in the UK and Europe and discovers that these treatments are often unproven, unregulated and can cause harm. She reports on disturbing cases of UK patients who have suffered infection, blood clots and even sight loss and hears from orthopaedic surgeons concerned that these so called stem cell therapies are jumping ahead of the science. And Lesley finds out how these procedures, which often cost thousands of dollars for each treatment, are operating under a loophole in EU Directives which govern the law in this area. There’s an exemption and the actual stem cell material being injected into you, may not be regulated at all. Picture: Stem cells are undifferentiated cells that can specialized through mitosis to many other cell types of multicellular organisms, Credit: selvanegra/Getty Images

Iceland has taken radical measures to reduce its gender pay gap. These aren't just about equalising pay when men and women do the same job but when they do different jobs of equal value. That's proved to be quite a sticking point in many countries around the world; ensuring that the jobs routinely occupied by women are paid as well as those that men do. Lesley Curwen meets the people tasked with comparing a production line worker with an office administrator, an HR professional with an accountant and a camera operator with a social media marketeer. What has the financial and cultural impact been on companies that have had to adjust their pay rates and what do their employees think about the process? Is the Iceland model one that other countries could follow? Presenter: Lesley Curwen Producer: Rosamund Jones Picture Credit: Getty Creative

The resignation this week of Mmusi Maimana, the leader of the Democratic Alliance, the main opposition party in South Africa, has exposed deep wounds from the apartheid era. Andrew Harding examines the implications for democracy in the country. Demonstrators have been out in force on the streets of Santiago and other cities across Chile after the government announced it was raising the price of metro tickets. Jane Chambers has been speaking to the pot-banging protesters and says there are real fears of a return to the dark days of dictatorship. A large shopping centre and an old Jewish cemetery: James Rodgers is in the Czech Republic, in a small town east of Prague, on the trail of scrolls saved from a synagogue there, which he'd first seen in Manchester. Iceland is famously small, cold and welcoming to visitors. It's also a place where even the prime minister will take your call, as Lesley Curwen discovers. It's 40 years since the release of Apocalypse Now, the Vietnam War epic directed by Francis Ford Coppola, which starred Marlon Brando. It was actually filmed in the Philippines. Howard Johnson has been to see if any traces of the set still exist. Producer: Tim Mansel

The face-to-face interview can be life-changing. But it comes with risks attached, of bias on the part of the interviewer, or nerves on the part of the candidate. Lesley Curwen looks at the fast-changing process of getting hired in companies, big and small. Large companies are increasingly using recruitment tools including artificial intelligence to weed out the weakest candidates, in order to find the right candidate for the right job. But there is resistance in some quarters from some small employers who believe in the old ways of sifting through CVs by hand to produce a short-list. So can the traditional face-to-face interview survive longterm? Presenter: Lesley Curwen Producer: Smita Patel Picture credit: Getty Creative Stock

In the latest programme of the monthly series, Mishal Husain introduces dispatches from journalists and writers around the United Kingdom. This month we hear Sima Kotecha's triumphant tale of finally managing to pay off her student loans - except debt can prove a stubborn companion. Lesley Curwen visits a part of Lancashire she has long known which finds itself once more at the centre of media attention. The Fylde coastal plain is where the energy company Cuadrilla has just resumed fracking activities amidst much controversy. But away from the site itself what, she wonders, do local people make of all that's happening? From what claims to be the site of the solution to the UK's future energy needs to one that used to argue the same: Sellafield. On his visit, Theo Leggett sees plenty of rust and weeds at the Cumbrian nuclear plant but also discovers that in this part of northern England which has long struggled for economic take-off there are burgeoning hopes for the future... maybe. With BBC Children in Need's annual fundraising extravaganza just around the corner, Alison Holt tells the story of one teenager in Wales who is coping with an especially demanding medical diagnosis - growing up as HIV-positive - and how one organisation supported by listeners' and viewers' donations seeks to help him and his family. And we travel to Kent with Christine Finn as she unearths a coals-to-Newcastle story about how a lavender farming boom there has - quelle horreur! - managed to succeed in cornering the lucrative French perfume market. But for how long? Producer: Simon Coates

An update on American conspiracy theorists who deny that twenty-six people, mostly young children, died at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012. False rumours that the attacks were staged were pushed by media mogul Alex Jones, and his online news site Infowars. Big social media companies have now shut down Infowars’ and Alex Jones’ accounts. This is an update of a story that was originally broadcast in March 2017. How do you get a hashtag to trend around the world? We look at the numbers behind the case of a politician who is little known outside the United Kingdom but became a hot topic online. Lesley Curwen has sailed thousands of miles around Europe on her yacht and knows the strange joy of being out of sight of land. Talking to fellow sea-lovers , she asks why we are drawn to go to sea and put ourselves at the mercy of wind and waves. Photo: Alex Jones, founder of Infowars Credit: Getty Images

Lesley Curwen has sailed thousands of miles around Europe on her yacht and knows the strange joy of being out of sight of land. Talking to fellow sea-lovers - sailors, a marine biologist, an artist and a Captain of a merchant ship - she asks why we are drawn to go to sea and put ourselves at the mercy of wind and waves. Is it a yearning to be close to nature, a test of self-reliance or can science explain why our brains are attracted to the ocean? Photo: The sea. Copyright Shutterstock

What’s it like to be a young YouTube star? Siblings Jaadin and Arabella Daho's lives have significantly changed since they went viral on YouTube in 2015. At just 10 and 11 years old their videos racked up 17 million views. But along with the money and fame has come abuse, both online and off. How has YouTube stardom affected these teenagers and their family? Does a baked potato contain the equivalent of 19 cubes of sugar? We look into this claim to see whether the simple spud is hiding a sweet secret. Why do so many of us love boats? Lesley Curwen, a proud owner of a yacht, finds out how our love affair with the boat can be a deep, passionate attachment and how in some cultures boats are seen as living things and the best place to create memories far from the busy world of dry land. (Photo: Jaadin and Arabella Daho shooting one of their YouTube videos. BBC Copyright)

Why do so many of us love boats? They are used as homes as well as for work and pleasure across the world. Lesley Curwen, a proud owner of a yacht, finds out how our love affair with the boat can be a deep, passionate attachment and how some vessels can take on the character of their owners. In some cultures boats are seen as living things and the best place to create family memories far from the busy, connected world of dry land. (Photo: A boat on the sea)

What do our plans for spending $100 reveal about us and the buying power of money? Lesley Curwen travels to Washington DC where the $100 note is printed. She also meets a former drug user, a former scientist turned entrepreneur, a hospital doctor in Zimbabwe and a maid to find out how they would spend $100.

People queue all night to get filthy notes in a country which is running out of cash. Lesley Curwen visits Harare, the country's capital and talks to those who have to spend all night outside the bank and who then often don't manage to get any cash. And also when they do it's so dirty that it's not accepted outside the country. Plus Monica de Bolle of the Petersen Institute research group in Washington tells Manuela Saragosa about the economic similarities between Venezuela and Zimbabwe.(Picture: People queue outside a bank in Harare; Credit: Zinyange Auntony/AFP/Getty Images)

Many fees and charges in the investment industry - which, among other things, manages vast pension fund wealth - have been hidden for decades. Lesley Curwen meets the transparency "detectives" intent on bringing reform to a sector that has long shunned it. She asks why the investment industry has been so slow to embrace change and explores the barriers that might still lie ahead. How much money has been unnecessarily spent and how might more transparency alter the shape and structure of the industry? She also hears the stories of the pioneers who are spearheading this new approach. How difficult has the process been for them? Producer: Rosamund Jones

Many British fishermen rejoiced after the UK vote to leave the European Union. They hoped it would mean fewer EU boats fishing in UK waters. Business reporter and sailor Lesley Curwen visits ports and harbours at both ends of Britain to talk to fishermen about their hopes and fears, and hears from a group of European fishermen who argue a hard Brexit would destroy thousands of their jobs. Producer: Smita Patel (Image: Newlyn fish market, Cornwall. Credit: BBC)

Is it fair to find your own kidney donor on the internet? UK patients who need new organs are using social media to advertise their plight and appeal directly for a Good Samaritan who's willing to share their spare kidney with a stranger. As Lesley Curwen discovers, the development of such appeals on social media has caused consternation among some in the transplant community. They fear a competition to attract donors amounts to an unsavoury beauty contest, in which only the most plugged-in and tech-savvy can participate. But for Nicola Pietrzyk from Leicester, turning to social media and Facebook was a no-brainer. Her 11 year old son, Matthew had been spending 12 hours a day on dialysis, waiting for years for a possible donor from the NHS list. She's convinced that if she hadn't launched A Million Likes for a Kidney for Matthew, a kind-hearted stranger would never have offered her son a new kidney, potentially saving his life. The campaign prompted several prospective donors who weren't a match for Matthew to go on to donate to others and Alison Thornhill tells Lesley Curwen why she went on to do just that. But the likelihood that individuals, motivated by a particular story on social media, will in fact be a match for their intended recipient is slim, and Lesley hears from transplant teams frustrated that NHS resources are sucked up by high profile campaigns that attract many volunteers, all of whom need to be tested, most of whom won't turn out to be a possible match for the recipient. Dr Adnan Sharif, consultant nephrologist at Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital, was closely involved with several high profile media campaigns and he admits that he and his team were at times completely overwhelmed by the demands that multiple volunteers, each offering to donate a kidney to a named individual, placed on the unit. While he acknowledges that such social media campaigns are legal and after the guidelines were changed, were accepted by the transplant community, he admits to mixed feelings about the outcome. He and his team are delighted for the individual who has a new kidney, but uncomfortable about diverting resources from patients who are waiting for an organ through the traditional routes, from deceased donors or through the NHS Living Donor Scheme where altruistic donors place their trust in the transplant authorities to pick the best match for the kidney they've donated. So the transplant community in the UK has come to terms with social media campaigns for organs from strangers, even though there's a clear preference for the NHS altruistic donor scheme. But Lesley discovers another internet innovation: websites that allow kidney patients to advertise for a prospective donor, have been frozen out as clinical teams have voted with their feet and refused to deal with them. An American website, matchingdonors.com, launched in the UK in 2012 and sent policy makers and clinicians in the organ transplant field into multiple huddles. The final ruling was that websites like this could operate as long as no fees were paid (matchingdonors.com didn't charge UK kidney patients a fee but they do charge $595 to USA patients for a lifetime membership). Over 100 UK patients and over 300 UK donors were registered at the site. But as Lesley finds out, in five years, not one transplant has happened through this website. Patients told her their transplant teams simply refused to deal with it, and the former chair of the ethics committee of the British Transplantation Society, Professor Vassilios Papalois, argues that clinicians have autonomy and if they're not comfortable with the idea of a matching organ website, they're under no obligation to proceed. He finds the idea of a matching website ethically objectionable, he tells Lesley, and he wouldn't personally sanction it either.

With an ageing population the need for carers to help elderly people stay healthy and safe in their own homes has never been greater. From making a meal, to help getting out of bed or having a shower, domiciliary carers provide a lifeline for hundreds of thousands of elderly and vulnerable people. But what happens when things go wrong and carers inflict serious abuse and neglect on the people who depend on them? Lesley Curwen speaks to the families of elderly people who have been neglected in some cases left for days without proper medication or attention to personal hygiene - with devastating results. Experts say cuts to local authority care funding, unmanageable workloads and poor training are contributing to the toll of abuse. So how can families be assured that their family member is in safe hands? And after File on 4 previously uncovered evidence of widespread sex abuse in care homes, we ask whether enough is being done to protect the most vulnerable people in society in their own homes. Reporter: Lesley Curwen Producer: Ben Robinson.

School may be out for the summer but now the headache for working parents really begins. The Family and Childcare Trust's latest report into holiday childcare shows that formal out of school care is in short supply and costs are high. Lesley Curwen and an expert panel discuss the obligations on the Government to help out, as well as forthcoming changes to free child care provision for children aged 2-4 and how this could affect your family finances. Whatever you want to know call us on 03700 100 444 from 1pm to 3.30pm on Wednesday, standard geographic charges from landlines and mobiles will apply. Or e-mail moneybox@bbc.co.uk now. Presenter: Lesley Curwen Producer: Lesley McAlpine Editor: Andrew Smith.

Details of how the UK's largest sports retailer Sports Direct pays some of its workers were revealed to MPs this week. The Business Innovation and Skills Committee is looking into working practices at the company. It heard evidence from the Unite union that prepaid debit cards are used to pay some workers from Eastern Europe their wages. They come with a £10 a month fee for workers who are also charged for cash withdrawals and associated texts. Lesley Curwen speaks to Craig James, Chairman of the Prepaid International Forum, a trade association that represents the prepaid card industry. As industry body Energy UK launches a Switch Guarantee which aims to help households change providers in 21 days instead of four to six weeks, Audrey Gallacher, Director of Energy Supply at Energy UK, outlines how they plan to achieve that and Money Box listener Angie shares her switching story. It didn't go to plan... The state pensions of 472,000 British retirees who now live in another EEA country receive a yearly increase. Could that change if the UK votes to leave the EU? We hear from Tom Selby, Senior Analyst with AJ Bell. There's concern from the Financial Services Consumer Panel, which advises the regulator, the FCA, that millions of people will miss out on receiving impartial financial advice after the Money Advice Service closes. MAS was set up in 2010 to provide debt and financial advice. Questions over whether it was delivering value for money were raised in a National Audit Office report. A March 2016 budget announcement confirmed plans to abolish the service and replace it with a smaller advice body. Sue Lewis is Chair of the Financial Services Consumer Panel. Presenter: Lesley Curwen Reporter: Kevin Peachey Producer: Charmaine Cozier Editor: Andrew Smith.

Why does a family in Wrexham pay more for their energy than a family in Nottinghamshire? It's not because they use more gas and electricity. It's because people in more rural areas, further away from the energy source, are charged more. The cost of sending energy down the lines and pipes is greater for more remote areas, pushing up household prices. But is that fair and why is there not a universal charge? Kevin Peachey reports. Cash or pension? An NHS Trust is offering new recruits enhanced pay if they opt out of the NHS pension. Former pensions minister Steve Webb, who introduced auto-enrolment, tells Lesley Curwen why he thinks this is a worrying precedent. Could property crowdfunding schemes help young people get on the housing ladder? The Social Market Foundation says they provide people with an opportunity to keep up with property market inflation while they save for a deposit. But MoneyWeek editor Merryn Somerset Webb tells Lesley Curwen people need to be aware of the risks. Presenter: Lesley Curwen Producer: Ruth Alexander.

What has The Archers got to do with the price of milk? Lesley Curwen looks at the present crisis in dairy farming through the prism of the long-running Radio 4 soap opera, "The Archers" and talks to the man behind the agricultural storyline, Graham Harvey. Along with archive from the drama and interviews with today's farmers, she looks at the milk industry and its increasing exposure to volatile global markets. Producer: Smita Patel.

In Canada, everything is big - including powerful pension funds such as the Ontario Teachers fund which owns half of Birmingham airport and other large projects around the world. It's all a far cry from the British pension scene, where a hundred local government pension funds each run their own affairs separately and pay costly fees to City firms for investment advice. Many of them still have financial deficits. Taxpayers have been forced to pick up bills to pay off those shortfalls and already hard-pressed local services have been stretched further. Lesley Curwen investigates how these individual funds are run and asks whether we should have larger funds with cheaper costs - like Canada does. And she asks whether more councils should be using pension money to invest in housing and infrastructure as a way to boost their local economies? Producer: Anna Meisel Reporter: Lesley Curwen.

The fatal explosion of a Virgin Galactic space plane at the end of October 2014 was a major set-back to Sir Richard Branson's dream of a flourishing space tourism venture. Lesley Curwen tells the story behind the crash and asks whether the highly lucrative Virgin brand will survive the tragedy. Producer: Simon Coates Researcher: Kirsteen Knight.

As water companies submit their spending plans for the next five years, Lesley Curwen investigates what happens to the money once the household water bill has been paid. Half of England's water companies are now in the ownership of global investment funds. In many cases these corporate bodies are run and financed from abroad behind closed doors. They use a web of companies some in off-shore tax havens to provide a steady flow of dividends to their shareholders. But is their mechanism for generating shareholder income at the expense of the customers who are looking for lower bills and sustained investment in their water supply? Producer: Ian Muir-Cochrane.

With the SNP announcing its plans for an independent Scotland this week, Lesley Curwen profiles Nicola Sturgeon - a figure who may be key to the party's chances of success. She's deputy to Alex Salmond but is central to the party's campaign, and she's playing a major but perhaps under-reported role in negotiating with London too. How did she achieve such a rapid rise to political prominence? And why is she so obsessed with the TV drama Borgen? Presenter: Lesley Curwen Producer: Chris Bowlby.

Chris Bowlby looks at the 22-year old Norwegian chess player Magnus Carlsen. He has the highest rating in the world ever and has been called the Mozart of chess.He is currently in London playing the tournament that will determine which top player gets to challenge the reigning world champion, Vishy Anand, for that title. Carlsen has been amazing the world of chess since he was a child. He became a Grandmaster after just four years of playing, when he was thirteen. He also achieved a draw against chess legend Gary Kasparov at that age. His talent and achievements later caught the attention of the fashion world, and he was asked to model for denim brand G-Star Raw, giving the image of chess a make-over in the process. He is said to have a photographic memory, but uses it to remember sports results and trivia more than chess openings. An instinctive and fast player, he also has extraordinary staying power and can change a game five hours in, when his opponents start to flag. Can this chess wunderkind now become world champion? And what is he actually like? Lesley Curwen talks to those who know him best, from his dad and his first coach, to famous chess players like Nigel Short.Producer: Arlene Gregorius.

Sir Philip Green is one of the UK's most successful, and colourful, businessmen; his stores are estimated to make up 10 per cent of the high street and his wealth runs into the billions. This week he sold a stake in his flagship fashion chains Topshop and Topman for a reported £500 million. Lesley Curwen profiles the man who is perhaps the most successful retailer of his generation, with contributions from Sir Stuart Rose, Bill Kenwright and Kate Phelan.Producers: Ben Crighton and Hannah Barnes.

The new President of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi now finds himself at the centre of the European financial crisis. The appointment of an Italian to this key role, from a country no stranger to inflation and which is itself at risk of defaulting may have raised some eyebrows, but Draghi was once dubbed 'Super Mario' for his combination of financial and diplomatic intelligence. Lesley Curwen profiles the urbane economist and charts his path to the top of European banking.Reporter: Lesley Curwen Producer: Gail Champion.

Whatever happened to his notebooks? Jeremy Bowen, charting the demise of the Gaddafi regime in Libya, wonders why his precious notebooks keep going missing. Mishal Husain travels though five countries finding out about the role Twitter and Facebook have played in the Arab Spring. Thousands of Zimbabwean children have been making a long, risky and illegal journey south in search of a place in a South African schoolroom; Mukul Devichand's been metting some of them. Lesley Curwen's been to the US to find out how families are getting by during the economic downturn. And in Ireland, Fergal Keane sees signs of hope and optimism after the worst banking crisis and recession in the country's history.

The end of the world is nigh! Well, it is according to one estimate. But Chris Bockman who's in the French Pyrenees says there's a village there where you might just be safe. Much joy's being reported in South Sudan. Peter Martell's in this region which has experienced generations of civil war but is now getting ready to usher in independence. Could the mighty US be about to default on its debts? Lesley Curwen says the government in Washington's been given a deadline by which time it must pay up. But before that can be achieved, Republicans and Democrats must sort out their differences. Alex Renton's been learning that these are tough times in Armenia but still there's pride in the country's fine brandy which was, so they say, a favourite of Winston Churchill's. And Emily Lethbridge has been finding out that a good place to research the mediaeval sagas of Iceland is a petrol station, not far from the capital Reykjavik.

This week's Assignment looks at the much-vaunted crackdown on tax havens announced by the G20 earlier this year. The drive is aimed at getting tax havens to agree to yield up information on tax cheats. But is the G-20's weapon of choice, shooting blanks? Is its approach cumbersome and ineffective in the fight to get every dollar that's owed to tax authorities? Lesley Curwen investigates.