Podcast appearances and mentions of lucy ash

Downing Street's virtual summit of Ukraine allies may have given those countries a greater sense of unity, but the war continues in Ukraine and President Putin is still prevaricating over the 30-day ceasefire proposed by the US and accepted by Ukraine. William Crawley explores how morally justified it would be to say 'no' to a ceasefire, with journalist and author Lucy Ash.Also on the programme, in his Times column for this year's Ash Wednesday, Giles Coren tells the story of his own waning atheism and gradual embrace of Christian faith. Though Giles was raised in a Jewish home he had “no Hebrew classes, no Jewish environment, no bar mitzvah”. He shares how he finds comfort within the traditions of English Anglicanism.The Dalai Lama, the 89-year-old spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism, is worried that his successor could be chosen by the Chinese government. In his new memoir, he says he will choose to be reincarnated in a successor outside China, and instructs his followers to reject any successor chosen by China. Tibetan Buddhism now faces a very awkward possible future - with two competing Dalai Lamas. To discuss this on the Sunday programme is Professor Robert Barnett, one of the world's leading experts on Tibetan history.Presenter: William Crawley Producers: Bara'atu Ibrahim & Amanda Hancox Studio Managers: Amy Brennan and Sam Mills Production Coordinator: Kim Agostino Editor: Chloe Walker

Kate Adie introduces stories from DR Congo, Israel, Ecuador, Malaysia and Germany.Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced by the ongoing conflict in the DR Congo. Amid the violence, a clinic in Goma is helping civilian casualties recover and rehabilitate. Hugh Kinsella-Cunnigham met some of the people trying to rebuild their lives.Regional leaders in the Middle East are focusing their attention on the second stage of the ceasefire – and the continuation of the hostage and prisoner exchange between Israel and Hamas. Some hardliners in the Knesset are demanding a resumption of the war, which worries families still waiting for their relatives to be released, reports Wyre Davies.Ecuador goes to the polls this weekend, in a vote which is seen by many as a referendum on President Daniel Noboa's hardline war on the country's criminal gangs, which critics say has led to innocent people arrested and detained. Ione Wells reports from the city of Guayaquil.A recent survey in Malaysia revealed more than 70 per cent of young Malaysians are in debt. Officials says this is down to a ‘shopping addiction' and the growth of ‘flex culture' on social media. Hannah Gelbart went to find out more about the country's appetite to spend.In an age of translation apps achieving fluency in a foreign language can perhaps seem a futile exercise. Undeterred, Lucy Ash recently moved to Berlin to learn German. After making little progress, she moved to the country's Baltic coast where she volunteered as a farm hand - and could finally escape the multitude of English-speakers in the capital.Series producer: Serena Tarling Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith Production coordinators: Katie Morrison & Sophie HillImage: Naomi at the Shirika La Umoja centre in Goma. Taken by Hugh Kinsella Cunningham

Kate Adie introduces stories on Syria, Myanmar, Ivory Coast, the Russian Orthodox church and Tunisia.The threat of being 'disappeared' was central to Bashar al Assad's system of repression and intimidation. Now he is gone, Syrian families want to know what happened to their loved ones. Yogita Limaye met people who've been searching for relatives for years – and who have discovered likely clues at a hospital morgue.BBC Eye has been investigating the role of moles in Myanmar's military - soldiers sharing intelligence with pro-democracy groups. These moles have helped the advance of rebel groups and the balance of power is now shifting, with the military now controlling less than a quarter of the country. Rebecca Henschke tells the story of the 'watermelon spies' - military green on the outside, rebel red on the inside.Chocolate has been one product that has notably suffered from 'shrinkflation' - rising in cost, and shrinking in size. This is in part due to the spiraling cost of cocoa - but not everyone involved in its cultivation is getting rich, as John Murphy discovered when he met farmers in Ivory Coast.The war in Ukraine has been sanctified by Patriarch Kirill of Moscow - head of the Russian Orthodox Church. He's even said Russian soldiers who die on the battlefield will be washed of their sins - but not everyone in the church agrees with this stance. Lucy Ash catches up with one priest risking punishment for speaking out.Tunisia recently hosted the World Morse Code championship – a fiendishly competitive tournament, in which participants are challenged to accurately receive, copy and send coded transmissions as fast as possible. Monica Whitlock went to watch the competitors in action.Series Producer: Serena Tarling Production coordinator: Katie Morrison and Sophie Hill Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith

We grow up with an idealistic , romanticized view of ballerinas, but Lo is taking you backstage with Lucy Ashe to spill some tea. Lucy Ashe trained at The Royal Ballet School for 8 years. She has a diploma in Dance Teaching with the British Ballet Organization. She is a former professional dancer and best selling author who has taken the literary world by storm with her unsettling thriller Clara $ Olivia: The Dance Of The Dolls, a clever glimpse into the world of ballet. Her newest novel "The Sleeping Beauties" was just released. Lo speaks to her about the creative process, writer's block and the up's and down's of industry rejection turning into success. She speaks candidly with Lo about the difficulties she experienced with her mental health and body image living life as a dancer. She is insightful, vulnerable, honest and remains grounded which makes for a great convo that will take you into a world Lo is so curious about. From tutu's to Dance Mom's and The Nutcracker...you won't be disappointed with this one boo! Stay Connected to The Lo Life! Facebook: Join the Coven: The Lo Life FB Group Instagram: @thelolifepodcast Your host: @stylelvr TikTok: @thelolifepodcast This Week's Guest: Lucy Ashe We have deals and steals for our kings and kweens- All thanks to our sponsors Lumen: If you want to stay on track with your health this holiday season, go to lumen.me/LoLIfe to get 15% off your Lumen. Manscaped: Get a smooth shave and a fresh line up with the chairman pro today. Get 20% and free shipping with code LoLifePlease rate, follow and leave a review to keep this hot mess express going strong. Uncommon Goods: Looking for nique, cute and CHIC holiday gifts? Go to Uncommon Goods. Lo is obsessed. Get 15% off your next gift using code LoLife at checkout Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Day 955.Today, we discuss the Pentagon's verbal contortions as it explains where and when the US will shoot down Iranian missiles - plot spoiler: Israel now, Ukraine never - and speak to the author of a new book explaining how the Russian Orthodox Church became a vital force in Putin's existential war against Ukraine.Contributors:Dominic Nicholls (Associate Editor, Defence). @DomNicholls on X.Francis Dearnley (Assistant Comment Editor). @FrancisDearnley on X.RolandOliphant (Senior Foreign Correspondent). @RolandOliphant on X.With thanks to Lucy Ash (Foreign affairs broadcaster and author). @LucyAAsh on X.Full video of David's funeral:https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/10/03/david-knowles-funeral-telegraph-journalist-ukraine-podcast/Lucy Ash's book, 'The Baton and the Cross: Russia's Church from Pagans to Putin':https://www.amazon.co.uk/Baton-Cross-Russias-Church-Pagans/dp/1837731837 Articles Referenced: Exclusive Boris Johnson interview (The Telegraph): https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/10/03/boris-johnson-exclusive-interview-putin-trump-lockdown-echr/1.5 million Ukrainian children at risk of being deported to Russia, ombudsman says (Kyiv Independent): https://kyivindependent.com/1-5-million-ukrainian-children-at-risk-of-being-deported-by-russia-ombudsman-saysStudents can subscribe to our coverage for free:We're giving university students worldwide unlimited access to The Telegraph completely free of charge. Just enter your student email address at telegraph.co.uk/studentsub to enjoy 12 months' free access to our website and app. Better still, you'll get another 12 months each time you re-validate your email address.Subscribe to The Telegraph: telegraph.co.uk/ukrainethelatestEmail: ukrainepod@telegraph.co.ukHosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The historian Timothy Snyder is famous for his work on the horrors of the 20th century and his call to arms to fight against tyranny in the 21st. Now, in ‘On Freedom' he explores what liberty really means. He challenges the idea that this is freedom ‘from' state or other obligations, and explores how across the US, Russia and Ukraine, true liberty is the freedom ‘to' thrive and take risks. The Ukrainian poet, Oskana Maksymchuk also considers the question of freedom in her collection, Still City, a book that started as a poetic journal on the eve of the Russian invasion in 2021. The fragmentary poems detail the everyday moments amid the violence and fear and precarity of a country at war. The Russian Orthodox Church has managed to survive the turbulent history of the country, from tsarist demagoguery to Soviet atheism, and is now free to flourish under Vladimir Putin. But in her new book, The Baton and the Cross, the journalist Lucy Ash reveals how the religion has formed an unholy alliance with politics, state security and big money.Producer: Katy Hickman

Kate Adie presents stories from Russia, The Netherlands, Taiwan, Vanuatu and Germany.The trial of US journalist, Evan Gershkovich in the city of Yekaterinburg will be conducted behind closed doors. He is just one of many journalists who went to Russia to report on the country, as Vladimir Putin's clampdown on media freedoms intensified. Steve Rosenberg was in Yekaterinburg and reflects on Russia's handling of the case.Last year, just over 9000 deaths - around 5% of the total number - occurred as a result of euthanasia in the Netherlands, where it's legal. It's very rare, but every year, there are more Dutch couples choosing to end their lives at the same time. Linda Pressly met someone whose parents made the decision to die together.In Taiwan, civil liberties are strongly supported, and it is now one of the world's most progressive countries regarding gay rights. On a recent visit to the capital Taipei, Lucy Ash meets some who fear that should China invade in the future, hard-won rights could be taken away.In the South Pacific, Vanuatu is grappling with what happens when a significant proportion of its workforce is lured away by higher paid jobs in hospitality, agriculture and elderly care to the likes of New Zealand and Australia. In Port Vila, Rebecca Root speaks to locals about what that means for a country struggling to build up its own economy.And finally, the UEFA Euro 2024 football championship is taking place at a time when Europe is seeing many political rifts. On a tour of some of the host cities in Germany, James Helm reflects on how football tournaments still have the power to unite rather than divide.Series Producer: Serena Tarling Editor: Richard Vadon and Tom Bigwood Production Coordinator: Katie Morrison

Last week the Russian Orthodox Church approved a document that branded the full-scale invasion of Ukraine a “holy war.”So what role does religion play in the Ukraine war?The BBC's Harry Farley and Lucy Ash, the author of the upcoming book "The Baton and the Cross: Russia's church from Pagans to Putin", try to make sense of it all.We also hear from Father Andriy Zelinskyy, chief military chaplain for the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church about how he offers spiritual guidance and comfort on the frontline.Today's episode is presented by Jamie Coomarasamy and Vitaly Shevchenko.The producers were Arsenii Sokolov, Elliot Ryder and Ivana Davidovic. The technical producer was Ricardo McCarthy. The series producer is Tim Walklate. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.Email Ukrainecast@bbc.co.uk with your questions and comments. You can also send us a message or voice note via WhatsApp, Signal or Telegram to +44 330 1239480You can join the Ukrainecast discussion on Newscast's Discord server here: tinyurl.com/ukrainecastdiscord

When the Russian Orthodox Church set up its own outpost in Africa in late 2021, just months before the invasion of Ukraine, it was considered a blatant challenge to the historic authority of the Patriarch of Alexandria and All Africa. It sparked a major split in the global Orthodox community. Moscow's move was in response to Alexandria's support for the newly independent Orthodox Church of Ukraine. But it was also an opportunity for Russia to try to extend its influence across the African continent. Lucy Ash hears how priests in Kenya have been lured into joining the Russian Orthodox Church and asks whether President Vladimir Putin's crusade for hearts and minds will succeed.

Iryna Tsilyk is one of Ukraine's best known young documentary makers. She made her name following the lives of soldiers, female paramedics and families living on the frontline in East Ukraine after the region was taken over by Moscow-backed separatists. However after Russia's full-scale invasion brought the war to Iryna's home city of Kyiv, she decided she could no longer stay behind the camera. So, in her current project, The Red Zone, Iryna is turning the lens on herself and her family.Iryna's husband, Artem Chekh, is a well-known novelist and journalist. He volunteered to join the army and found himself in Bakhmut, scene of some of the bloodiest fighting. For five days Iryna did not know if he was alive or dead. She is focusing on the anguish she felt over this period and using a series of flashbacks to illustrate their past lives in peacetime.Iryna tells Lucy Ash that to give herself more artistic freedom she has decided on a radical new tool for her work: this film will be an animation. Making films in wartime is a challenge and animation is expensive but Iryna has foreign backers and is determined to tell her own story in her own way.

Kate Adie presents stories from Turkey, Ukraine, the USA, Sao Tome and Principe and Lithuania. Lyse Doucet has been in Southern Turkey reporting on the earthquake which has devastated towns there and in North West Syria. She describes how the rescue effort has now changed to a recovery mission as hope of finding survivors fades - yet families still hope for miracles. It's four months since Russia first launched a wave of drone and missile attacks aimed at destroying Ukraine's power grid. Millions of Ukrainians have had to put up with regular power cuts, sometimes lasting for days. Paul Adams meets the army of engineers who, despite the huge damage, are busy re-connecting towns and cities. In California selling cannabis for recreational use has been legal since 2016. In Oakland Sharon Hemans hears about a scheme to help communities previously targeted by the so-called War on Drugs make the most of the now legal cannabis trade. She meets one man who's experienced selling cannabis on both sides of the law and hears of the new challenges he now faces. Petroc Trelwany finds the West African island of Principe has such a young population that schools are having to adapt by teaching classes in shifts. At lunchtime when the schools switch over the streets are flooded with students. And it's the 700th birthday of Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania. Lucy Ash visits for the celebrations and discovers a small country determined to stand up for itself and continue the legacy of its medieval founder. Producer: Caroline Bayley Editor: Richard Fenton-Smith Production Coordinator: Helena Warwick-Cross

Dmitri Shostakovich's Thirteenth Symphony was inspired by an unflinching poem about the ‘Holocaust of Bullets' at Babi Yar in Ukraine, one of the biggest massacres of World War Two. Lucy Ash pieces together the events leading up to the controversial first performance by speaking to people who witnessed it in a Moscow concert hall 60 years ago: the composer's son Maxim Shostakovich, the poet's sister, Elena Yevtushenko and the music critic Iosif Raiskin. One March day in 1962, the young Russian poet Yevgeny Yevtushenko got an unexpected phone call. Dmitri Shostakovich was on the line asking if he had permission to set one of his verses to music. The poem, Babi Yar, denounces the massacre of 34,000 Jews in a ravine near the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv. It condemned not only Nazi atrocities, but also the Soviet Union's state-sanctioned anti-Semitism. Officials responded by launching a vicious campaign against the poet and banning readings or new publications of his work. So, Yevtushenko was delighted by the famous composer's moral and artistic support. According to his sister Elena, he felt the music had “made the poem ten times stronger”. But, as Maxim Shostakovich explains, the Soviet authorities tried to prevent the symphony from ever reaching an audience. The composer's son recalls how his father was consumed with anxiety ahead of the premiere, still haunted by his narrow escape, decades earlier, from Stalin's secret police. Pauline Fairclough, author of a recent Shostakovich biography, says that, despite all the pressures, the composer never stopped experimenting with musical forms. Concert pianist Benjamin Goodman describes Shostakovich's ‘word painting' technique and the ways in which he conveys Yevtushenko's verse in music to create a sombre, chilling, but ultimately consoling choral symphony. At the Babyn Yar Memorial site in Kyiv, Lucy is shown fragments of a Russian rocket which hit a nearby apartment building last spring. In the midst of a new, 21st-century war, she reflects on the nature of artistic and political courage and parallels between the Khrushchev era and Russia under Putin today. Producer Tatyana Movshevich

First hand reports from Afghanistan, Cambodia, Estonia, Lebanon and the German village of Oberammergau. Taliban promises to respect women's rights seem to be fading. Reports have emerged of Afghan women being arrested for alleged “moral crimes,” and thrown in prison without charge. Ramita Navai managed to get into one of the prisons where these women are being held. Cambodia has some of the greatest Buddhist sites in the world, but many of these have suffered at the hand of looters. As Celia Hatton discovered, some of this theft has occurred very recently. Estonia is attempting to win over its Russian-speaking minority. One third of the country speak Russian as their first language, and in some regions, almost everyone does. Could Vladimir Putin use an alleged attack on Russian speakers' rights as an excuse to intervene? Estonia's innovative strategy is to offer them a series of fun events in the Estonian language, which Lucy Ash went to watch. The politics of Lebanon are complex, and often bitterly divided. Lebanon held an election last weekend, against a backdrop of economic collapse. Leila Molana-Allen found many voters hoping that this time round, change may be afoot, although predictable cynicism was also evident. This year, there is a new donkey for the Oberammergau Passion Play. In a tradition going back to the Seventeenth Century, two thousand residents of this small village in Bavaria present the tale of Jesus Christ and the crucifixion, for one season, every decade. Obergammerau has once again welcomed spectators to what is a unique performance. Adrian Bridge went to meet the cast.

Lola Arias is a well-known and influential Latin American theatre director, writer and filmmaker. Her powerful stage pieces are created from real life testimony. She gathers material for these works by talking to and workshopping with people who have witnessed, or been part of a particular, sometimes traumatic, shared experience. These people then become her actors, performing their lives in the theatre. She tells Tina Daheley about her working methods and her works including ‘Minefield', where she brought together British and Argentinian veterans from the 1982 Falklands war, ‘The Day I Was Born' which included people from different political sides during the Chilean dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet and her latest piece, Lengua Madre, Mother Tongue, exploring motherhood in the 21st Century. This year Kaunas, Lithuania's second largest city, is one of the three European Capitals of Culture 2022. It's a place with a troubled past and one the topics being explored during this year of Culture is its forgotten or suppressed history. One of the artists who's exhibiting there is William Kentridge. His family emigrated to South Africa from Lithuania more than a century ago to escape antisemitism and the pogroms. For years, the internationally acclaimed artist admits he was reluctant to visit the land of his ancestors. Kentridge, who combines his trademark charcoal drawings with animation and sculpture, is well known for tackling difficult subjects such as racial and financial inequality. Lucy Ash met him at the National Art Museum in Kaunas at his exhibition called That Which We Do Not Remember. Sophie Jai's debut novel Wild Fires is set on the Caribbean island of Trinidad. When her main character Cassandra returns home from abroad for the funeral of her cousin Chevy, she's confronted by her intergenerational family, all living in different parts of the same house, together but separate, and the family secrets and hidden memories that have dominated their lives for decades. Sophie Jai herself was born and spent her early childhood in Trinidad until moving to Canada and she explains what drew her back to writing about Trinidad and the memories of her childhood. (Photo: An image from Lola Arias' Minefield. Credit: Tristram Kenton)

The Venice Biennale was created in 1895 as an international art exhibition and after a year's delay due to Covid, it's just re-opened. Artists from across the globe have descended on the enchanting Italian city of canals and churches. There are over 1400 works on display, as well as the Pavilions from 80 countries, which will become part of the landscape of Venice over the next seven months. Finnish performance artist Pilvi Takala has impersonated a wellness consultant, a trainee at a global accountancy firm and even Snow White for her documentary style videos. For her Venice Biennale commission, Close Watch, Pilvi worked undercover for several months as a guard at one of Finland's largest shopping malls and she explained the thinking behind her project to Lucy Ash. There are 5 countries participating for the first time at the Venice art Biennale - Cameroon, Namibia, Oman, Uganda and Nepal and one of the artists who's representing Cameroon is photographer Angèle Etoundi Essamba. Angèle tells Anu Anand how she challenges the stereotypes of African women in her work and why it's important for Cameroonian artists to be part of this Biennale. In the Patagonian region which covers Chile and Argentina are peatlands, a specific type of wetland that's shaped one of the most remote landscapes in the world. Architect Alfredo Thiermann and filmmaker Dominga Sotomayor are two of the artists who've been collaborating on the Chilean Pavilion and working with the descendants of the Selk'nam people, the ancient indigenous group that inhabited that land many years ago. Their immersive video and sound installation “Turba Tol Hol-Hol Tol,” reflects the relationship between this ancestral culture and the landscapes that surrounds it, as they told reporter Constanza Hola. Like Cameroon, Nepal also has its first ever pavilion this year and the artist representing that country is Tsherin Sherpa. The title of the Pavilion is Tales of Muted Spirits – Dispersed Threads – Twisted Shangri-La, created to help dispel misconceptions about the country and to give Nepali artists and the entire country, a new voice in the world. Paul Waters went to meet Tsherin to hear more about his own work as well as the Nepali art scene. Producer: Andrea Kidd Photo: Dominga Sotomayor and Alfredo Thiermann finalising their immersive instillation. Credit: Dominga Sotomayor and Alfredo Thiermann)

Just before Christmas, 2021, Joel Vilard was driving his cousin home on a dual carriageway just south of Rennes in Brittany. Suddenly, a bullet flew through the window and hit the pensioner in the neck. He later died in hospital of injuries accidentally inflicted by a hunter firing a rifle from a few hundred metres away. A year earlier Morgan Keane, was shot dead in his garden, while out chopping wood. The hunter says that he mistook the 25 year old man for a wild boar. Mila Sanchez was so shocked by her friend Morgan's death that she collected hundreds of thousands of signatures to change the hunting laws. She gave evidence to the French Senate and put the topic on the political agenda. The Green Party is now calling for a ban on hunting on Sundays and Wednesdays. But the Federation National des Chasseurs, which licenses the 1.3 million active hunters across France, is fighting back. It argues hunting is a vital part of rural life and brings the community together. Its members were delighted when President Macron recently halved the cost of annual hunting permits. Yet public opinion, concerned about safety and animal rights, is hardening against hunting and the battle for la France Profonde is on. On the eve of presidential elections, Lucy Ash looks at a country riven with divisions and asks if new laws are needed to ensure ramblers, families, residents and hunters can share the countryside in harmony. Presenter: Lucy Ash Producer: Phoebe Keane Editor: Bridget Harney (Image: Anthony, from the Ile de France branch of the Federations of Hunters, in the forest of Rambouillet west of Paris. Credit: Amélie Le Meur)

Just before Christmas, 2021, Joel Vilard was driving his cousin home on a dual carriageway just south of Rennes in Brittany. Suddenly, a bullet flew through the window and hit the pensioner in the neck. He later died in hospital of injuries accidentally inflicted by a hunter firing a rifle from a few hundred metres away. A year earlier Morgan Keane, was shot dead in his garden, while out chopping wood. The hunter says that he mistook the 25 year old man for a wild boar. Mila Sanchez was so shocked by her friend Morgan's death that she collected hundreds of thousands of signatures to change the hunting laws. She gave evidence to the French Senate and put the topic on the political agenda. The Green Party is now calling for a ban on hunting on Sundays and Wednesdays. But the Federation National des Chasseurs, which licenses the 1.3 million active hunters across France, is fighting back. It argues hunting is a vital part of rural life and brings the community together. Its members were delighted when President Macron recently halved the cost of annual hunting permits. Yet public opinion, concerned about safety and animal rights, is hardening against hunting and the battle for la France Profonde is on. On the eve of presidential elections, Lucy Ash looks at a country riven with divisions and asks if new laws are needed to ensure ramblers, families, residents and hunters can share the countryside in harmony. Presenter, Lucy Ash. Producer, Phoebe Keane. Editor, Bridget Harney

Playing cat and mouse games with the world and using so-called little green men for masked warfare – what Russia's annexation of part of Ukraine in 2014 tells us about Vladimir Putin. “Like tsars through the centuries, Putin sees himself as the rightful heir and the guardian of one true Christian faith,” says Lucy Ash, who has seen first-hand how the Russian leader has used religion to justify war and bolster his image. To make sense of the man everyone is trying to figure out, Jonny Dymond is joined by: Lucy Ash, BBC reporter and author of the upcoming book “The Baton and the Cross” about the Russian Orthodox Church under Putin Steven Lee Myers, New York Times correspondent and former Moscow bureau chief Dr Gulnaz Sharafutdinova, professor of Russian politics at Kings College London and author of “Red Mirror: Putin's Leadership and Russia's Insecure Identity Production coordinators: Sophie Hill and Siobhan Reed Sound engineer: Rod Farquhar Producers: Caroline Bayley, Sandra Kanthal, Joe Kent Series Editor: Emma Rippon Commissioning Editor: Richard Knight

How Vladimir Putin, a former KGB agent, rose to power and transformed Russia. We hear eyewitness accounts of Putin's war in Chechnya, his campaign against Russia's independent media, and the war in Georgia, which became a blueprint for the invasion of Ukraine. Plus the BBC's Russia specialist Lucy Ash tells us why Putin was shaped by his experience of the end of the Cold War, and we talk to Dr Katerina Tertytchnaya of UCL about Putin's popularity and a turning point in Russian popular protest. Photo: A Russian soldier walks through the streets of the destroyed Chechen capital Grozny, February 25, 2000. (Photo by Oleg Nikishin/Getty Images)

Am Morgen des 24. Februar hat das russische Militär unter Anweisung von Putin die gesamte Ukraine angegriffen. Wir versuchen zu verstehen, was gerade passiert. Weiterführend: Erklärung zu “maskirovka” - BBC: How Russia outfoxes its enemies von Lucy Ash: https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-31020283 (Samira hat auch noch dazu geschrieben: https://www.spiegel.de/kultur/putins-krieg-in-der-ukraine-die-maskerade-im-politischen-krieg-kolumne-a-a4b9a93b-877b-4d4d-9a81-138f771e7bce) "Die Lüge kann nicht groß genug sein" von Nils Markwardt https://www.zeit.de/kultur/2022-02/wladimir-putin-russland-diskussionsrunde-inszenierung Nils Markwardts Interview mit Herfried Münkler zur Ukraine: https://www.zeit.de/kultur/2022-02/herfried-muenkler-ukraine-russland-geopolitik Dekoder: "Warum Putin diesen Krieg braucht" von Kyrill Rogow — Übersetzung von Ruth Altenhofer und Jennie Seitz: https://www.dekoder.org/de/article/krieg-ukraine-nutzen-putin-analyse Correctiv.org: Diese Falschinformationen und Gerüchte kursieren zum Russland-Ukraine-Krieg: https://correctiv.org/faktencheck/hintergrund/2022/02/22/diese-falschinformationen-und-geruechte-kursieren-zum-ukraine-russland-konflikt/

Many migrants still set off by boat from Calais each week, in the hope of reaching Britain. The French authorities insist they are trying to deter people from coming to Calais, by making conditions there tougher. Horatio Clare says they are removing tents, mattresses, and even the blankets people sleep under. More than 150 thousand Russians with learning disabilities live in institutions which have been criticised as inhumane or cruel. The aim, Lucy Ash says, is to keep out of sight people who are considered a social embarrassment. She has been meeting activists in Moscow, trying to provide alternative ways for them to be cared for and supported. LSD and magic mushrooms were once supposed to be a means to tap into an alternative universe, to “Break on Through to the Other Side,” as the Doors singer, Jim Morrison put it. Nowadays, conventional medical establishments are exploring how various psychedelics can be used to treat people with mental health problems. Stephanie Theobald went to a convention in the US state of Nevada, which proclaimed a new psychedelic renaissance. Stephen Moss has travelled the world as a producer for the BBC's Natural History Unit, seeing plenty of unusual wildlife along the way. But he had a particular, yet unfulfilled ambition to see the bird species known as the “Resplendent Quetzal.” In the end, he had to travel to Costa Rica to catch sight of it. It is sometimes hard to believe that border requirements such as visas and passports are a relatively modern development, passports themselves only being standardised in the 1920s. So how has all this affected those who seek to roam around the continent - for pleasure, for exploration, to experience other cultures? Nick Hunt has made many such journeys, and reflects now on how they have changed, and how they have stayed the same.

Former presidents and protestors recount two key moments in the history of the Ukraine crisis - from the historic meeting that ended the USSR to the dramatic anti-government protests in Ukraine in 2013-14. And the BBC's Lucy Ash explains how Russian-Ukrainian relations have evolved. Also in the programme, an eyewitness account of the forgotten mass killings in Burundi in 1972, plus the inventors of Google Maps and how Manolo Blahnik became a legend in the world of shoes. Photo: Kyiv, Ukraine - December 9th 2013. Anti-government protesters stand guard at one of the barricades defending Maidan Square against police. Credit: Etienne De Malglaive/Getty Images

Lucy Ash catches up with a warzone bakery comforting people in an east Ukrainian town. She visited in 2017 to tell the story of a small enterprise that was bringing hope to a trapped community living near the frontline. The town of Marinka is in the buffer zone – the ‘grey zone' - that separates Ukraine from the Dontesk region – now claimed and occupied by Russian backed separatists. For the town's inhabitants the low-intensity conflict had become an unavoidable part of daily life. But there was one bright spot amidst the gloom – a bakery. It was Ukraine's first frontline workplace-generating enterprise, and a haven from the politics, propaganda, and violence that had been tearing the town apart. But now, more than four years on, with Russian troops now massing along Ukraine's eastern border, the threat of all out conflict looms. The bakery's owner Oleg Tkachenko tells Lucy Ash he hopes there will not be an all out conflict. He fears an invasion could destroy everything that he and his community have built up over the past five years. (Image: Workers in the bakery in Marinka. Credit: Frederick Paxton)

In her documentary Taming the Garden, which premiered at the Sundance film festival this year, the award-winning Georgian film-maker Salomé Jashi captured the transplantation of trees from Georgia's coast to a controversial new park and arboretum. She tells presenter Sophia Smith Galer about evoking conflicting feelings on film. Music and sound artists at this year's Helsinki Biennial are inspired by listening to trees. The BBC's Lucy Ash hears from Teemu Lehmusruusu, a Finnish artist converting the sounds of decaying trees into organ music and Finnish-British artist Hanna Tuulikki, whose soundscape and choreography blend the folklore of the past with present-day eco-anxiety. The Jamaican poet Jason Allen Paisant has just published his debut collection Thinking with Trees, exploring identity, belonging and the right to roam. He is joined in discussion by fellow poet Craig Santos Perez, a member of the Indigenous Chamorro community, originally from the Pacific Island of Guam, who protests with trees against the climate crisis in his latest poetry collection, Habitat Threshold. They tell Sophia how they're each reinventing nature poetry to reflect their roots and their rights. Plus, we take a trip to the park with Dian Jen Lin, the Taiwanese fashion designer and co-founder of sustainable design studio Post Carbon Lab, who designs with trees to create carbon-capture clothing, using bacteria foraged from tree trunks. Presenter: Sophia Smith Galer Producer: Kirsty McQuire, Lucy Ash, Lucy Collingwood, Paul Waters (Photo: Taming the Garden film. Credit: Salomé Jashi)

An audience with Mali's messengers of hope; Aliou Touré, the lead singer of rock revolutionaries Songhoy Blues, tells Tina about their new album and why they believe optimism is the only way to challenge the ongoing civil unrest in their country. He's been described as perhaps the greatest writer of Arabic fiction alive, but as well as a being a celebrated writer, poet and filmmaker, Hassan Blasim is also a refugee. Hassan discusses his latest novel God 99 - a work that tells the tale of 99 refugees and the man, also called Hassan, travelling through Europe to share their stories. Belarusian playwright Andrei Kureichik talks to reporter Lucy Ash about the nation's pro-democracy protest movement. Andrei reveals how his latest production, Insulted Belarus(sia) reflects the legacy of President Alexander Lukashenko, the man often called Europe's Last Dictator. Plus has a film, a play or a book ever changed the way you see the world? The activist and photographer Sunil Gupta shares the story of his discovery of the work of the Canadian writer, Alice Munro. Presented by Tina Daheley (Photo: Songhoy Blues. Credit: Kiss Diouara, Millennium Communication, Bamako)

In parts of Nevada, prostitution is legal - the only such state in the US. The 'live and let live' mentality is a hangover from the gold rush days; in certain counties, brothels have been officially licensed since 1971. Today, no fewer than seven of them are owned by one man: Dennis Hof, a gun-toting restaurateur, entrepreneur and reality TV star. He calls himself the 'Trump from Pahrump', after a town where he recently won the Republican primaries for the Nevada State Legislature. Now, though, there is a backlash from religious and social activists, who have managed to get a referendum on the ballot during this November's mid-term elections. Voters in Lyon County will be asked if the legal brothels there should be allowed to continue to operate.Ultimately, the campaigners aim to end legal sex work across the whole state. They say it is an exploitative, abusive trade, and prevents other businesses from investing in the area. But some sex workers are worried that a ban could push them onto the streets, where they would face potential danger. Lucy Ash talks to Dennis Hof, the women who work for him, and those who are pushing for change. Producer: Mike GallagherImage: Dennis Hof poses outside the Moonlite BunnyRanch (Credit: Reuters)

In a conservative corner of east Africa, thousands of women have gained more control over their lives thanks to seaweed. In a traditional island village there is a surprisingly high divorce rate and women have safeguarded their interests with earnings from this salty crop which has given them a much needed income and new independence. At first the husbands were outraged – they complained that seaweed farming made women too tired for their matrimonial duties. The women eventually prevailed but their hard won freedom is now threatened by climate change. Lucy Ash meets the seaweed farmers of Paje village and looks at the ways they are fighting to save their livelihood and raise their families.Image Credit: Chloe Hadjimatheou

Lucy Ash meets the staff and customers of a bakery which is the one bright spot in war-torn east Ukraine. The war there between Russian-backed rebels and the Ukrainian army has dropped out of the headlines and there seems to be little political will to make peace.More than 10,000 people have been killed and as it enters its fourth year, this has become one of the longest conflicts in modern European history. But in the frontline town of Marinka there's one bright spot amidst the gloom - the bakery. It's the first new business in the town since the fighting began and it is bringing some hope and comfort to its traumatised citizens. We meet staff and customers from the bakery to explore a community living on the edge. "The aroma of fresh bread," says the man behind the enterprise, " gives people hope. It smells like normal life."(Photo Credit: Photography by Frederick Paxton)

Stay or go? That's the choice facing Russia's brightest and best. As the first generation born under Putin approaches voting age, many of Russia's young people are voting with their feet. Lucy Ash meets émigrés, exiles and staunch remainers in London and Berlin, Moscow and Saint Petersburg to weigh up the prospects for the ambitious in Putin's Russia.The push and pull of Russia's exit dilemma plays out in galleries and start-ups, architecture practices and universities. Pussy Riot's Nadya Tolokonnikova, is now campaigning for prison reform, and says her spell behind bars only fuels her sense of mission. "I really do love to be inside of this courageous community, risking their lives by trying to change their country. It gives sense to my life." But others - from Herzen to Lenin to Khodorkovsky - have tried to influence the Russian condition from abroad. Life outside the motherland isn't always the easy option; many struggle with feeling superfluous, with indifference or competition.Although the biggest country on earth, space for freedom of expression in Russia has been shrinking. Recently, a propagandist pop song has been urging students to mind their own business. Its lyrics include: "Kid, stay out of politics, and give your brain a shower!", a symptom of the claustrophobic atmosphere that is encroaching on public space and personal life. Some make an exit in search of a reliable environment for their business or propaganda-free schools for their children; others are fleeing homophobia or political danger.Contributors include best-selling author Boris Akunin; the rising star of Russian architecture Boris Bernaskoni; techno producer Philipp Gorbachev; exiled oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky; Nonna Materkova, director of Calvert 22 Foundation; young entrepreneur Asya Parfenova; experimental linguist Natalia Slioussar; Nadya Tolokonnikova from Pussy Riot; Russia's best-known music critic Artemy Troitsky; and curators Dishon Yuldash and Alexander Burenkov.Producer: Dorothy FeaverImage: Lucy Ash in St Petersburg, Credit: BBC

After the multinational force sailed away from Arkhangelsk, it was payback time for the Whites. Once the Red Army arrived in February of 1920, the mass executions of those who sided with the Allies began. Lucy Ash visits a 17th Century convent outside Arkhangelsk where thousands of so called counter revolutionaries were slaughtered during the Red Terror.

In 1918, towards the end of World War One, tens of thousands of foreign troops, Americans and British among them, were ordered to Russia in what became known as the Allied Intervention. Winston Churchill saw the foreign troops as anti-Communists, on a crusade to “strangle at birth the Bolshevik State". Lucy Ash travels to the Arctic port of Archangel to look for evidence of a conflict which took place a century ago and transformed Russia's relations with the West for decades to come.

Lucy Ash meets the young Russians taking death-defying photos on top of skyscrapers to gain internet fame and explores why this is a particularly Russian phenomenon.

Kate Adie introduces dispatches from writers and correspondents around the world. This week, Lyse Doucet reports from her native Canada on the country's sponsorship scheme for refugees; Joe Miller considers the major impact there has been on a Texas border town of many months of migration from Central America by women and unaccompanied children; Lucy Ash travels to the Loire Valley to visit France's first centre for deradicalisation and discovers what local people think of it; Kamal Ahmed considers whether the Swiss, who have negotiated a bespoke deal with the European Union, offer a model for the United Kingdom to emulate in the Brexit negotiations; and Chris Terrill joins a British ex-soldier who is training wardens in one of South Africa's private nature reserves to resist poachers.

In the Colombian capital of Bogota, Lucy Ash meets two people who fear they will never be able to return to their homes. They both come from Choco, which is one of the poorest provinces and most violent parts of the country. Maria, an Afro-Colombian mother of four, fled her town after she was abducted and brutally attacked by paramilitaries. Plinio was trying to help members of his indigenous community go back to their farms when he received death threats from a splinter group of left wing guerrilla (the ELN) and his friend was assassinated.Their stories illustrate a nationwide trauma – the government may be on the brink of a historic peace deal with the FARC rebels, but Colombia has even more internally displaced people than Syria. More than 200,000 have been killed and seven million driven off their land during half a century of war. Lucy travels down the River Baudo to meet people uprooted from their jungle villages in violent clashes earlier this year and finds that Latin America's longest insurgency is far from over.Reported and produced by Lucy Ash.

India and Pakistan have often confronted each other - but each nation also has to deal with domestic security problems. In Indian-administered Kashmir, Justin Rowlatt hears from restive crowds who have been silenced by neither days of curfew nor a news blackout, and witnesses the police tactics used to try and tamp down their protests. Over the border in Pakistan, Shaimaa Khalil explains why the troubled province of Baluchistan is such a headache for central government - and why the violence which plagues it is now being turned against local lawyers. Lucy Ash hears how drama itself can play a role in reconciling Colombians with their past, as former left-wing rebels, ex-right-wing paramilitiaries, and the victims of their crimes meet on stage. Rayhan Demytrie recently saw a different kind of political theatre unfolding on the streets of Armenia's capital, Yerevan, as veterans of the war with Azerbaijan mounted an armed attack against their own state - and were applauded for it by many Armenians. And far from all the madding crowds, Justin Marozzi joins a scientific mission a thousand feet below the surface of the Sargasso Sea hoping to unlock some of the mysteries of the deep ocean.

Lucy Ash meets Macedonia's Special Prosecutors -three women who have become the scourge of the political elite and heroines of the street protests now rocking the tiny Balkan nation. Their job is to investigate claims of wrongdoing and corruption revealed in a huge wiretapping scandal. The former Prime Minister has called them puppets of the opposition but to protestors on the street the fearless trio are Macedonia's Charlie's Angels. But will they succeed in their crime fighting mission when they have a tight deadline and most state institutions are either refusing to cooperate with them or dragging their feet. Many argue that a Special Prosecution is not much use without a Special Court. Under the current patronage based system, high court judges are appointed only after the approval of senior politicians and the secret police. Produced by John Murphy

Now that China has ended its One Child policy, one group of state employees may soon be out of a job – the country's hated population police. Hundreds of thousands of officers used to hunt down families suspected of violating the country's draconian rules on child bearing, handing out crippling fines, confiscating property and sometimes forcing women to have abortions. But with an eye on improving child welfare in the countryside, there is a plan to redeploy many of these officers as child development specialists. Lucy Ash visits a pilot project in Shaanxi Province training former enforcers to offer advice and support to rural grandparents who are left rearing children while the parents migrate to jobs in the big cities. If successful, the scheme could be rolled out nationwide to redeploy an army of family planning workers and transform the life prospects of millions of rural children.

Lucy Ash meets the sheep farmers who took on the government because of what they claim is a threat to their traditional way of life.

The deaths of five school children in Malaysia have provoked an anguished debate about education and what it means to be Malay. The children ran away from their boarding school in Kelantan State and died of starvation in the jungle. They were afraid of harsh punishment from their teachers. Two girls survived eating grass and wild fruits but were found emaciated and close to death 47 days later. The children came from the Orang Asli community, one of the poorest and most marginalised in the country. For Assignment, Lucy Ash travels to the remote region where the children came from and talks to their bereaved parents. Many families are now refusing to send their children to school and campaigners accuse the government of not doing enough to protect rights of the Orang Asli community. Jane Beresford producing.Produced by Jane Beresford

Lucy Ash reports on the controversial mayor in charge of Beziers, the largest French city controlled by the Far-Right. Is Robert Menard a pioneer or a provocateur?

Reporter despatches from far and wide. In this edition: Alastair Leithead on the wave of violence in the African state of Burundi connected to the president's third term in office. David Shukman's in the Philippines where thousands of people have been driven from their homes by a typhoon in which it rained, and then went on raining for days on end. Lucy Ash is in Beziers in southern France, a city accused of being a laboratory for the far right. Trudeaumania's back in Canada - Rajini Vaidyanathan talks of how he was swept to power on a tide of votes, many from the country's young, but the question is, can he now deliver? And it's a capital city determined to become the Dubai of Africa - James Jeffrey is in Djibouti where some locals wonder what might be lost in their republic's drive for modernity.

Lucy Ash meets the Harragas of Algeria - the young people who burn their identity papers and head north across the Mediterranean leaving family, friends and stability behind.

Kate Adie introduces Correspondents' stories. This week Paul Wood hears warnings of civil war returning to Lebanon; Andrew Harding reflects on the Pistorius trial; Darius Barzagan can't get the images of MH17 out of his head; Niall O'Gallagher joins Catalans celebrating their National Day and calling for independence; and Lucy Ash meets Ivory Coast's most famous actress to talk about infidelity.

Global despatches. Today: it was Gabriel Gatehouse's local shopping mall but now the Westgate Centre in Nairobi has become known as a place of fear, suffering and death; did Angela Merkel do TOO well in the German election? Chris Morris on why forming a new government there could be a protracted business. As the Egyptian authorities move to ban the Muslim Brotherhood, Quentin Sommerville talks of the country's increasing polarisation. China's wealthy elite have found their own solution to the country's girl shortage - Lucy Ash has been meeting 'The Love Hunters' in Shanghai. And John Pickford has been finding out if there are still beachcombers to be found in the faraway islands of the South Pacific. From Our Own Correspondent is produced by Tony Grant

Is the Turkish prime minister Mr Erdogan listening to the demonstrators? James Reynolds has been following the protests in Istanbul and other cities. Chris Morris is in historic Mostar learning how difficult it is for Bosnians to forget about the past. People in the Golan Heights have been telling Wyre Davies they are concerned the fighting over the border in Syria is about to spill over into their territory. Lucy Ash has been to Yaroslavl in Russia to examine whether the first woman in space, Valentina Tereshkova, really was the proletarian heroine she's made out to be. From Our Own Correspondent is produced by Tony Grant.

How the direction of the wind saved Tokyo from possible radioactive contamination -- Rupert Wingfield Hayes examines the debate over re-starting Japan's nuclear power plants. Andrew Harding considers how Nelson Mandela's hospitalisation has caused South Africans to look again at their country's development in the years since apartheid. The police are said to deal drugs, the playgrounds are littered with syringes -- but Lucy Ash says not all optimism's been extinguished in Ukraine. David Chazan in France on a man who stole from a bank and has become something of a folk hero. And Nick Thorpe goes to Slovenia and Bulgaria to find out what's irking the middle classes and why in the open-air markets, the strawberries are not selling. From Our Own Correspondent is produced by Tony Grant

As the year draws to an end, Kate Adie presents a feast of highlights from correspondents' despatches across 2012. Fucshia Dunlop is in Shanghai, dancing the the city's glamourous past. Lucy Ash is challenged by a call of nature in Russia's Siberian wilderness. Kate McGowan decides against boiled duck foetus for breakfast in Manila. Allan Little uncovers the great egg crisis in the Falkland Islands. Emma Jane Kirby is feeling distinctly under dressed as she takes a table in St Tropez. And Will Grant discovers that Mexico's 'Day of the Dead' is a suprizingly uplifting experience.

Kate Adie presents despatches from reporters across the globe. Lucy Ash travels to Burma where she finds that Chinese investment ventures are being challenged by local people. As Greece receives it latest tranche of bailout funds, Mark Lowen looks back over a tumultuous year in the country. Andrew North looks at the controversy surrounding the proposed introduction of foreign supermarkets to India. Joanna Robertson joins in the Parisan love affair with fairgrounds. Horatio Clare explains why change might be coming to the remote island of St. Helena in the very near future

Lyse Doucet's in a Syrian suburb hearing stories about a civil war which is reaching more parts of the country every week. Damien McGuinness finds there are complaints from some Turkish women about the good times which have arrived at a resort town on Georgia's Black Sea coast. Justin Webb wonders whether ludicrous amounts of time and money are being spent trying to woo undecided voters in the US presidential election. Lucy Ash is at a monastery contemplating the growing influence on the Russian state of the Orthodox Church. And while visitors to the Philippines may have great things to say about a fascinating country, Kate McGeown says they rarely mention the food!

In a week full of elections near and far, Mark Lowen says Sunday's vote in Greece could be the most critical of them all. Justin Rowlatt is in Kenya noting a huge turnaound in the global economy -- while Europe and the USA are feeling the pain, the rest of the world is steadily getting richer. Petroc Trelawney's been to find out why a new town in Ireland has houses and a new railway station, but very few people. Lucy Ash is camping out in the Russian Arctic and seeing how Vladimir Putin's push for further energy supplies is affecting reindeer and their herders And Alan Johnston, touring the celebrated sights of Rome, tells us there's one particular statue which casts a chill shadow -- even on the sunniest of Spring days.