Bringing Up Britain
BBC Radio 4

Mariella Frostrup is nothing if not versatile. When fronting Open Book, her role is that of the orchestrator: engaged, enthusiastic, sweetly persuasive. Here in the new series of Bringing Up Britain she is more of a prompter, keen to ensure that the don from the University of Aberdeen is given an airing and that the new research from the University of Ghent shouldn’t miss its cue.

“Liar, Liar” (18 July) brought three academic psychologists, Drs Sarah Kuppen, Angharad Rudkin and Hannah Cassidy, together with Ian Leslie, author of Born Liars, to discuss the idea of deception, with particular reference to the deceiving young. As ever, the statistics were both troubling and minutely particularised. Apparently we all tell 2.19 lies a day and no social conversation proceeds for more than a few moments before one of the participants turns economical with the truth.