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You and Yours: New Build Homes; Australian Wine; The Power Of Reading

19/02/2020

New Build Homes; Australian Wine; The Power Of Reading

BBC Radio 4 - You and Yours, New Build Homes; Australian Wine; The Power Of Reading

The new-build homes that are both flood prone and a fire hazard.

And a wine vintage called "Hope" - Australia's wine industry fights back after the bushfires.

A group of You & Yours listeners have found potentially dangerous fire safety issues in their homes. The development was built by the UK's second largest house builder, Persimmon, and the homeowners have been struggling with major structural flaws in their properties for four years. They only discovered the fire barrier problem recently. An independent review of Persimmon homes published in December found poor building standards and fire safety barriers were common in 16000 homes reviewed. Persimmon has since hired Arup to ensure their homes are fire safe. But what about owners of existing Persimmon homes like our listeners? Who will ensure these houses are safe?

Heavy rain has now put out the last of the bushfires that caused devastation across Australia. Now as homeowners and businesses count the cost, the country's renowned wine industry is looking at the damage. In some areas, the entire 2020 grape crop is burnt. And even where the grapes were kept from the flames, any wine made with them can be affected by smoke taint. We talk about the future with winemakers from the Adelaide Hills - home to some of the more fashionable cooler climate wines of Australia - and ask how this will affect Australian wine in the coming years.

Bibliotherapy – the prescription of books as a remedy to ills – has been around since 2013, when the Reading Agency charity published a list of books that GPs could offer to patients, tackling topics from depression to dementia to chronic pain. Since then, 1.2 million readers have borrowed the scheme's books from libraries. It's so successful that it's about to be extended to children as well. Winifred Robinson discusses how it works with Professor Philip Davis who studies the effects of literature at Liverpool University. He's the author of a book called Reading for Life, having researched its effects on dementia, depression and worked with reading groups in prisons and homeless shelters.

PRESENTER: Winifred Robinson.
PRODUCER: Olive Clancy.

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You and Yours

New Build Homes; Australian Wine; The Power Of Reading

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