BBC World Service Online

The Thought Show

Factual

Brings together in a single hour The Why Factor; More or Less and Trending.

The Thought Show: Zimbabwe’s Economy

Factual: Life Stories

Patrick Chinamasa, Zimbabwean Minister of Finance

11/12/2014

Zimbabwe’s Economy

BBC World Service - The Thought Show, Zimbabwe’s Economy

What do the numbers in Zimbabwe’s budget mean for the nation's future prosperity?

Zimbabwe’s budget provided a fascinating insight into the country’s economy last week. Ben Carter looks at what the numbers mean for the future prosperity of Zimbabwe and the challenges the nation faces. The programme hears from David Blair, chief foreign correspondent at The Daily Telegraph, Julian Rademeyer, director of fact checking website Africa Check and Russell Lamberti, author of When Money Destroys Nations.

In Trending
An online campaign around the hashtag #Yamecanse has been expressing the sentiment ‘I have had enough’. Videos, messages and photos have been voicing frustration with authorities over the country’s problem with corruption, crime and the drug cartels. The campaign was a reaction to the disappearance of 43 students after clashing with police. It has been 10 weeks since the students went missing, but the campaign has broadened out to a general protest against the state of the country. It is aimed not just at those in Mexico, but also calls on the international community to take action. 

Millions of people are hooked on the podcast Serial, a spin-off of the US public radio show This American Life. Serial revisits a real life murder case that happened in Baltimore 15 years ago. A suspect was found guilty at the trial at the time, and is currently still in jail – though he insists he is innocent. The case has taken on a life of its own on social media, with half a million people discussing it on Reddit and some of them turning detective as they think they can shed new light on the case.

We look at the investigations occurring on Reddit and find out what happens when the online community becomes part of the story.

The Why Factor 
We are all born naked, yet there is a taboo about displaying naked bodies in public. Societies around the world have established conventions about who may see what, when and where. So why does the naked human form provoke such strong reactions?

A fully-clothed Mike Williams visits a life drawing class, speaks to the founder of a topless protest group, and hears from an academic about how the former East German government tried, but ultimately failed, to ban public nudism.

(Image: Zimbabwean Minister of Finance Patrick Chinamasa. Credit: Desmond Kwande/AFP/Getty Images)

Accessibility links

Programme Index

The Thought Show

Zimbabwe’s Economy

Genres

Brand

BBC World Service Online

About BBC World Service