The fall of Kabul to the Taliban last weekend shocked and outraged the world. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Tuesday, Stories of our Times<\/strong><\/a> <\/strong>interviewed Ahmadzai, a former interpreter who had worked with both British and American troops, but has been left behind<\/a> in Afghanistan. Only using his surname to protect his identity, Ahmadzai is one of thousands of interpreters who are now fearing for their lives in the country. \u201cTo leave me behind in Kabul, you are just making [the] Taliban come and kill me,\u201d he told The Times\u2019 Manveen Rana. \u201cThey will just shoot me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Bunker<\/strong><\/a>, a politics podcast, released a special episode where the panellist and former diplomat Arthur Snell spoke to a contact<\/a> currently hiding within the country: \u201cThe Taliban have made fake promises to the international community,\u201d he said. \u201cOf course they have not changed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also listen out for The Political Party<\/strong><\/a>, <\/strong>where host Matt Forde was joined by Tom Tugendhat the Chair of the Foreign Affairs Select Committee: \u201cDon\u2019t think that this is a change of regime. This is a vicious death cult,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A number of podcasts have released useful explainers on Afghanistan\u2019s recent history, such as The Intelligence<\/strong><\/a> by The Economist (\u201cthere was always a risk that as American forces and NATO allies withdrew from Afghanistan, the Taliban would surge,\u201d said the show\u2019s host, Jason Palmer, \u201cbut with three times the troop numbers, no-one predicted the Afghan forces would fold so fast.\u201d) <\/p>\n\n\n\n Finally, the BBC\u2019s Americast<\/strong><\/a> returned with a special episode<\/a> looking at the implications of the US withdrawal, hosted by Newsnight\u2019s Emily Maitlis and North American editor Jon Sopel. The podcast was supposed to be off until the US Midterms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBack in June we spoke about Joe Biden\u2019s return to Europe, coming to Cornwall, then going to Brussels and Geneva. On every step of the way he said \u2018America is back,\u2019\u201d said Sopel. \u201cBut back where<\/em>?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n NOTABLE NAMES ON PODCASTS THIS WEEK<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n If you have listened to a great guest on a podcast, let us know by filling in <\/strong>this form<\/strong><\/a> and it might get featured in an upcoming newsletter.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Here are our podcast picks for the week ahead<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n If you want your podcast featured, or you have a great recommendation, all you need to do is fill in this <\/strong>simple form<\/strong><\/a> and might get featured in a future newsletter.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Lecker: A Food Podcast<\/strong><\/a> <\/strong>– There have been a lot of podcasts that have explored our love of food, but not many podcasts that have explored the environment that we cook these meals within: our kitchens. It\u2019s a surprise really, considering how much time of our lives we spend in them. Also when you realise that, as this podcast about eating by Lucy Dearlove explores, our bedrooms and living rooms are all uniquely styled, yet many of our kitchens look exactly the same. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The first episode of the well researched and intriguing podcast delves into the history of our kitchen, which started as a designated area away from a place of eating and entertainment. \u201cThis kitchen living arrangement, which is so desirable now and open plan, was actually seen more as a working class thing,\u201d says design historian Professor Sugg Ryan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There\u2019s also a discussion into the history of kitchen cabinets, which started directly after World War I (1919, to be exact). Handy if you want to know the absolute earliest a can of something will be from if you find something unmarked in the back of your cupboards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Spotify Podcast of the Week – <\/strong>The Teamsheet<\/strong><\/a> – <\/strong>Spotify’s daily dream 5-a-side podcast welcomes Harry Pinero from another Spotify Original podcast, Who We Be Talks, this week. Harry runs host Craig Mitch through his 5-a-side team and as a big Manchester United fan, you can guess that there are a few links with Old Trafford in his squad. The Teamsheet is featured in Spotify’s Football Now playlist, a personalised mix of music and football podcasts which now features content from Goal Diggers and Tortoise amongst many others. Search for Football Now on Spotify to listen!<\/p>\n\n\n\n Taking Apart Terror<\/strong><\/a> – <\/strong>A podcast that tries to explain something that has been present within our lives, but whose origins and motives are rarely explained: global terror.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Presented by former British soldier Adnan Sarwar, and brought to you by The Global Coalition against Daesh, this series explains how terror organisations run, what they are motivated by, how they are funded and why they exist in the first place. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTerrorists want us to be confused, they want us to be scared,\u201d says Sarwar. \u201cBut if we know more we are more likely to see them for what they really are. And maybe we will be a little less scared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jimmy\u2019s Jobs of the Future<\/strong><\/a> – <\/strong>There are a lot of entrepreneurial podcasts that feel like you\u2019re listening to an audio version of LinkedIn \u2013 full to the brim of boasts and buzzwords that make you feel cold and alienated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So it is a relief that this podcast, by business expert Jimmy McLouglin, doesn\u2019t do any of that. His podcast features interviews with entrepreneurs who are shaping the future of business, with the discussions using language we can all understand. This series is particularly useful for anyone who is thinking of starting their own business and wants some inspiration, or is finishing full time education and wants to work out the new trends and companies to look out for. The third series has just started, with a recent episode looking at social impact businesses (those are businesses that try to do good as well as make money).<\/p>\n\n\n\n Make or Break<\/strong><\/a> – In business, tough decisions are an inevitability. One single decision can make a business or bring it to its knees. Auddy\u2019s newest podcast, Make or Break, supported by The Open University, dives into the world of high stakes decision-making to find out what went on behind the scenes of some of the biggest business decisions in recent history. Each episode, host and journalist Owen Bennett-Jones speaks to the business leaders who risked everything. From winning big to losing it all, we hear how these leaders navigated their leap of faith. Guests include Gerald Ratner, Liz Lange, Ramesh Vangal, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pressed<\/strong><\/a> –<\/strong> A podcast worth mentioning because it is thundering up the podcast charts (and deservedly so). This BBC Radio 1Xtra podcast features influencers Nella Rose, Mariam Musa and Adeola Patronne discussing topics that have been on their mind over the past week with honesty and honour. The podcast\u2019s strength is simply the chemistry between them.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n The hosts have known each other for years before this podcast came about, so when you listen you forget that they are in a podcast studio at all. That\u2019s a real skill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A small (but important) correction. In an earlier edition of this newsletter I said that Rosie Wilby\u2019s The Breakup Monologues<\/strong><\/a> <\/strong>was appearing at the Underbelly Festival the day the newsletter was in your inbox, when in fact it was the day before (making it rather difficult to get tickets when it had already happened – d\u2019oh!). The good news though is that you can now listen to the live special episode, with guests Felicity Ward and Maisie Adam, on their podcast feed<\/strong><\/a>. The fall of Kabul to the Taliban last weekend shocked and outraged the world. On Tuesday, Stories of our Times interviewed Ahmadzai, a former interpreter who had worked with both British and American troops, but has been left behind in Afghanistan. Only using his surname to protect his identity, Ahmadzai is one of thousands of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":928,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n
And finally, if you want television recommendations as well as audio ones, I have a newsletter which you can subscribe to here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"