If BBC television has had a “good” lockdown, reinforcing its role as a tube of societal glue from one news bulletin to the next, then its radio channels have not been far behind: World Service reporting of the coronavirus crisis, in particular, has been first-rate.

Rethink
BBC Radio

If BBC television has had a “good” lockdown, reinforcing its role as a tube of societal glue from one news bulletin to the next, then its radio channels have not been far behind: World Service reporting of the coronavirus crisis, in particular, has been first-rate. In its wake came a week-long multi-platform roll-out (across Radio 4, Radio 5 Live and the World Service, 22-26 June) in which a variety of “global voices” came together to “Rethink the world” in the aftermath of an international pandemic.

Things kicked into gear on Monday morning on Radio 4 when Amol Rajan, the BBC’s media editor, offered us his thoughts on how countries around the world are confronting change. Thereafter contributions came thick and fast: on Radio 4 The Guardian’s Jonathan Freedland and The Long View team explored moments in British history when crisis seemed to galvanise institutional and social upheaval.

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