<p>Just what happens when a foreign billionaire buys a vast tract of the Scottish Highlands and sets about changing it? Does Scotland’s biggest landowner Anders Holch Povlsen dictate everything that happens on his 80,000 acres of the Cairngorm National Park? Is he making money from it? Richard Baynes has been to the heart of Povlsen’s Wildland estate, talkin ... Show More
Today
27/08/25 Water scarcity, Scottish harvest, grazing for butterflies
Three river catchments in the East of Scotland are now in a state of significant scarcity - that’s the most extreme level of water shortage issued by SEPA, the Scottish Environment Protection Agency. It says the river Deveron in Aberdeenshire is at its lowest level since the 1970 ... Show More
14m 14s
Yesterday
26/08/25 Countryside Code, pollinators, fruit farm bees.
A new stakeholder survey has been launched by Natural England and Natural Resources Wales to find out how the Countryside Code is working in England and Wales. The code in Northern Ireland is similar but runs separately, and in Scotland, where they have the Scottish Outdoor Acces ... Show More
14 m
Aug 23
23/08/25 Farming Today This Week: early apples, bioethanol industry in trouble, rise in avian flu
The cider apple harvest has started already. Most apples are picked in the autumn and even varieties which ripen early aren’t usually ready yet, and the apple harvest looks likely to buck this year's trend and be good.The Government's decision last week not to offer a rescue pack ... Show More
24m 41s
Mar 2023
Adam Sowards, "Making America's Public Lands: The Contested History of Conservation on Federal Lands" (Rowman & Littlefield, 2022)
Over one quarter - some 640 million acres - of the United States consists of public land owned, not privately, but by the federal government, much of it in the American West. University of Idaho professor emeritus of history Adam Sowards explains why in his new book, Making Ameri ... Show More
52m 34s
Jun 2021
Scotland cases, flood risk and taxing the poor
The UK’s Covid cases are still rising and Scotland is being hit particularly hard - so are we speeding up our vaccination programme in response?Will many of the UK’s coastal towns, not to mention central London, be underwater in the next few years?Do the country’s poorest househo ... Show More
28m 42s
Feb 2023
Surrendering to the Waves?
As sea levels rise, tough decisions are going to have to be taken about the flood defences of coastal Britain. How realistic will it be to continue to maintain them in future? In this programme, Qasa Alom asks whether we are facing up to this yet, and visits two places where the ... Show More
27m 19s
Nov 2023
Jury conscience, resolving conflicts in space, and the law of Treasure Trove in Scotland
Can juries acquit a defendant as a matter of conscience? For example, if people are accused of causing criminal damage as part of a protest, could the jury find them innocent despite the judge's directions? Joshua speaks to Clive Dolphin from Defend our Juries; Richard Vogler, Pr ... Show More
28m 41s
Oct 2021
Andrew Forrest: Mega-polluter turned climate revolutionary
Stephen Sackur speaks to Andrew Forrest, an Australian billionaire mining magnate who is using a chunk of his fortune to push a green, hydrogen-based energy solution. In the run up to the Glasgow climate change summit, his conversion to decarbonisation is timely, but is it credib ... Show More
22m 57s