From Our Own Correspondent

In the Christmas edition, Mishal Husain introduces dispatches from journalists and writers around the United Kingdom which reflect the range of contemporary life in the country. Ian McMillan tells a story known with subtle variations across the country - the Christmas card that's received each year but which can't be acknowledged because you've lost the address of the people who send it. They aren't relatives, they're not friends and they're not really acquaintances. But their card says something profound beyond the sentiments it contains. Meanwhile, Jane Labous joins the Special Constables on Christmas patrol. They're part of the police force in England, Scotland and Wales and yet not for they are volunteers who have the power to detain and fine those who break the law. At a time of tight police budgets in Dorset, the regular police tell Jane, without the Specials there would be many fewer arrests. But who are the Specials and what is the essential job they perform for no salary? Those who are single at Ch

A controversial law in Hungary will allow employers to demand 400 hours of overtime from their workers and defer payment for three years. Nick Thorpe examines the rationale behind it, and watches as more than ten thousand people take to the streets in protest.Kate Adie introduces this and other stories from around the world:Lorraine Mallinder shares a story of survival and escape from Cameroon’s English-speaking regions, where hundreds of thousands of people have tried to flee violence between local separatists and the military. Jonah Fisher has the tale of a Ukrainian woman who thought her son had finally been found in Afghanistan. He went missing more than 30 years ago when serving in the Soviet military there. Jeremy Bristow meets a man trying to preserve the language spoken by Jesus and his followers as he visits some of the shrinking communities of Syriac Christians who still live in Turkey. And it’s the same procedure as every year for Joanna Robertson in Germany where New Year’s Eve is celebrated with

Before the contested referendum on independence, Carme Forcadell was the speaker of the Catalan parliament but since March she has been awaiting trial in a Spanish jail accused of rebellion. Niall O'Gallagher meets the ever defiant separatist politician.Kate Adie introduces this and other stories from around the world.Sarah Rainsford is surprised at the warm welcome she receives in the frozen Siberian city of Irkutsk - where, unlike in Moscow, people seem willing to criticise their President and are happy to speak to a Western journalist.Alastair Leithead discovers the vast size of the Democratic Republic of the Congo - as well as its dense forests, potholes, bureaucracy and corruption – make it a difficult place to get around as well as to govern.Rayhan Demytrie finds that the inauguration of Georgia’s first female President may not mean much for gender equality in the country.And Lucy Ash discovers that DIY DNA testing kits that help your trace your ancestors are revealing far more than some Americans barga

At 13 Basma was forced to marry an older man and then repeatedly abused by him and his family. At 16 she was kidnapped and sent to work in a brothel. Then her own family decided to kill her. Now she lives and works in one of Iraq’s secret shelters for survivors of domestic abuse and shares her story with Shaimaa Kahlil.Kate Adie introduces this and other stories from correspondents around the world. As South Africa marks the fifth anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s death, Andrew Harding reflects on the role that racial power and politics still plays there. Bethany Bell is in South Tyrol where Italian nationalism is proving surprisingly popular among German speakers in the north of the country. Fleur MacDonald attends a cinema screening in a Tunisian prison to see how films are being used to challenge the way inmates see the world.And in Canada, John Kampfner spends an evening in a cold, cavernous warehouse throwing axes at a dart-board like target – for fun.

'Orwellian' may have become an overused political term, but in Xinjiang, it has never been more appropriate says John Sudworth. The region’s ten million Uighur people are under constant surveillance by the Chinese state.Kate Adie introduces this and other stories from around the world. David Willis explains how a pimp turned politician won a seat on the Nevada state legislature despite being dead. Peter Oborne visits a Syrian school which has only recently re-opened after jihadi militants were driven out of town.Charles Haviland discovers that the conflict in the east of Ukraine is also leaving its mark on the west of the country.And Joanna Robertson explores the competing plans to deal Paris’s rat infestation – from total extermination to blanket non-intervention.

The “gilets jaunes” (yellow vest) protestors trying to bring France to a standstill. Hugh Schofield, says they're angry at having to pay the price for Parisians to live more comfortably and feel they are treated with contempt and condescension by the French elite. Kate Adie introduces this and other stories from correspondents around the world. Nick Higham is on the Rock to find out what Gibraltarians think of the possibility of a no-deal Brexit.Devina Gupta explains what it is like to report from Delhi, where the polluted air makes her eyes water and her throat burn.Will Grant examines some of the many challenges Mexico’s new President, Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, will face; from economic stagnation to the violent drug cartels. And Melissa Van Der Klugt visits a pioneering “wildlife corridor” in East Africa and discovers that simply moving fences has made a big impact on Kenya’s wildlife.

In the latest programme of the monthly series, Mishal Husain introduces dispatches from journalists and writers around the United Kingdom that reflect the range of contemporary life in the country. From politics to pastimes, from hallowed traditions to emerging trends, from the curious to the ridiculous, the programme presents a tableau of Britain today.Pieces this month include reflections on the very young and the very old playing together, how people on Lewis in the Western Isles are remembering a century-old tragedy that affected all families there, the special attraction of North Yorkshire for Goths and why a carol service takes us down to Strawberry Field.** as "From Our Home Correspondent" is a topical programme, pieces are subject to change at short notice.

The Brexit Withdrawal Agreement has prompted some very different and very passionate reactions. Adam Fleming reveals how, after an agonising wait which included taking the draft agreement on holiday with him - twice, its publication this week almost brought him to tears.

In 1918 Poland regained its sovereignty after 123 years of occupation by Austria, Prussia and Russia. This year Poles celebrated its centenary with a state organised march through the capital, Warsaw, which an estimated quarter of a million people attended. The parade, and the headlines, were overshadowed by the government’s last-minute decision to march together with far-right groups. Adam Easton was in Warsaw marching among the nationalists and the patriots. Kate Adie introduces this and other stories from correspondents around the world.David Baillie is with NATO in Norway where some of the companies singing really takes the cake. Humera Iqbal talks to a young Pakistani DJ who uses Electronic Dance Music to save traditional instruments from extinction. Adam Jones finds out how the idea of moderation works in the land of excess And Dany Mitzman is in Italy where the graffiti is surprisingly educational.

The risks some Indian women are prepared to take to try and have baby boys and how the battle to make them think again seems to be working. Sophie Cousins is in the state of Haryana where there are signs the gender imbalance is slowing improving. Kate Adie introduces this and other stories from around the world. Guy Hedgecoe explores why Spain still can’t decide what to do with the body of its former dictator General Franco, even as it prepares to celebrate 40 years since its transition to democracy.Rebecca Ford tells the story of the last French soldier to die during World War One – but when exactly did he die?Richard Dove takes a coach along the world’s longest sea-crossing bridge but fails to find much enthusiasm from his fellow passengers between the Chinese mainland, Hong King and Macau. And Ash Bhardwaj has pizza with a rapper in a town called New York not far from the frontline in Eastern Ukraine.

Change is coming to South Africa, says Cyril Ramphosa, but we must be patient. As the President plots his next move, and investigations into allegations of corruption under his predecessor Jacob Zuma continue, Andrew Harding reflects on the very different fortunes of the two very different leaders. Kate Adie introduces this and other stories from correspondents around the world.Allis Moss is in Norway – one of the greenest countries in the world but also one of the richest in oil and gas. Jai Jethwa investigates why so many Indian men, including his own father, have moustaches. From Bollywood stars to upper-caste martial warriors, this particular type of facial hair has long been associated with masculinity and power.Jessica Bateman explores attempts to breathe new life into some of Greece’s increasingly empty villages.And Tim Mansel meets a woman who once slapped the German Chancellor; it was 1968 and Beate Klarsfeld wanted to draw attention to Kurt-Georg Kiesinger’s Nazi past.

Keep America Great’ has replaced ‘Make America Great’ as the favoured slogan among some Donald Trump supporters. Ahead of the US mid-term elections, James Cook meets those who think the President is winning and can’t wait to vote for him again.Kate Adie introduces this and other stories from around the world.In Mexico, Will Grant has been traveling with the caravan made up of the thousands of Central American migrants hoping to reach the US.From Damascus, Diana Darke reflects on what her own family’s experience after World War One reveals about what life might be like in Syria when the conflict there finally ends. John Murphy is in Tunisia, once held up as one of the Arab Springs greatest successes but where people now have little to celebrate.And Pip Stewart reveals why a flesh-eating parasite from Guyana has made a quiet mark on her.

Recruiting more female peacekeepers is seen as essential to defeating jihadists groups in the Sahel, but the UN's Mali mission is the deadliest active peacekeeping deployment in the world. Jennifer O’Mahony met some of the women trying to bring stability to the region - as well as fighting for equality within their own ranks.Kate Adie introduces this and other stories from correspondents around the world.Nichols Walton is in Genoa to find out how the Italian city is coping after a motorway bridge collapse killed more than forty people in August; “Genoa is wounded not stupid” one poster declares.Olivia Acland travels to the Democratic Republic of Congo to meet Dr Denis Mukwege – a winner of the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize and a man known to many simply as Dr. Miracle. Mary Novakovich visits the recently reopened National Museum of Serbia, which was shut for 15 years, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Belgrade, which remained closed for 10 years. Was it worth the wait?And from a cemetery in Chennai, Southern Ind

Kate Adie introduces stories from around the world. Saudi Arabia's investment conference put on quite a show - and unlike many foreign investors scared off by the aftershocks of Jamal Khashoggi's death, Sebastian Usher was there to see it for himself. Lyse Doucet was in Afghanistan to cover its parliamentary elections, and found many changes to the streetscape in Kabul - as the city survives a rising tide of attacks. Airport security measures provided clues of their own to the way life is changing. Erbil, in Iraqi Kurdistan, was sometimes hyped as the "next Dubai" in the 2000s - but Samira Shackle found that many of its building sites, supposed to give rise to four-star opulence, are now abandoned shells occupied by internally displaced people who fled the advance of the so-called Islamic State. Tequila? No, mezcal - a smoother, smokier, and arguably more authentically Mexican product. Graeme Green takes a tipple or two in the state of Oaxaca, to hear how its aficionados and producers are torn between excitem

Kate Adie introduces analysis, wit and experiences from correspondents around the world. The past weekend's elections in Afghanistan were held under threat, and only patchily - but they were held, despite fears to the contrary. Secunder Kermani talked to plenty of young voters in the Afghan capital, Kabul, and heard both impatience and hope for the country's future in their answers. Serbia has a domestic violence problem - as well as uncounted stockpiles of firearms in private hands. As the government brings in measures to try and discourage abuse in relationships, Nicola Kelly hears about the lethal risks of abusers with their own guns. Tim Smith tags along with a group of dissenters on a night-time raid: they're Catalans who are strongly against the idea of Catalonian independence, and claim they're "cleaning up" the streetscape in some small towns by tearing down or removing symbols of the Catalan nationalist cause. In the ritzier parts of Jakarta, you can almost smell the money these days, says Rebecca He

In the latest programme of the monthly series, Mishal Husain introduces dispatches from journalists and writers around the United Kingdom. This month we hear Sima Kotecha's triumphant tale of finally managing to pay off her student loans - except debt can prove a stubborn companion. Lesley Curwen visits a part of Lancashire she has long known which finds itself once more at the centre of media attention. The Fylde coastal plain is where the energy company Cuadrilla has just resumed fracking activities amidst much controversy. But away from the site itself what, she wonders, do local people make of all that's happening? From what claims to be the site of the solution to the UK's future energy needs to one that used to argue the same: Sellafield. On his visit, Theo Leggett sees plenty of rust and weeds at the Cumbrian nuclear plant but also discovers that in this part of northern England which has long struggled for economic take-off there are burgeoning hopes for the future... maybe. With BBC Children in N

Fuel shortages are nothing to worry about, says the government in Zimbabwe - just bumps in the road on the way to a better future. Andrew Harding reflects on whether President Mnangagwa and Zanu PF will be able to deliver on their promise of a new dawn for the country. Kate Adie introduces this and other stories from correspondents around the world. John Sweeney is in Malta a year on from the assassination of the journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia; “if you’re a trouble-making reporter, it’s time to be afraid,” he concludes. Jemima Kelly is in Kaliningrad to learn more about Bitcoin mining – a place she finds very much open for business, whatever that business is. Andrew Whitehead stumbles across the rapidly expanding Korean community of Chennai, which claims to be the biggest concentration of expats in the port city. And Jenny Hill enjoys an evening at the opera, but what can Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde tell us about the fate of the German Chancellor Angela Merkel.Producer: Joe Kent

The women who regard their days with the jihadist group as the first time they'd had any kind of female empowerment and the men who saw it as a chance to escape poverty and gain access to money and guns. Colin Freeman reports from Maiduguri in Nigeria. Kate Adie introduces this and other stories from correspondents around the world. Harriet Noble meets the ‘rental sisters’ trying to coax reclusive young Japanese men back into society. There are up to a million ‘hikikomori’ who go for years without speaking to those around them or even leaving their bedrooms. Jane Labous hears of the stigma of childlessness in Senegal – for both men and women. Bob Dickinson explains why plans to make South America’s biggest ski resort even bigger have provoked a backlash amongst some residents of Barciloche in Argentina. And in supposedly liberal Lebanon, Lizzie Porter meets a cleric who was forced from his job for posting videos of himself online playing the piano in his traditional robes.

The Azov Sea off Crimea has become increasingly militarised and seen tense exchanges between Russian and Ukrainian coastguards. Jonah Fisher joins the Ukrainian Navy in these troubled waters. Kate Adie introduces this and other stories from around the world. In Colombia, Simon Maybin meets a group of Venezuelan migrants who’ve turned to busking on the streets of Cucuta in the hope of raising enough money to feed their starving families back home. In Hungary, Nick Thorpe visits Mohacs where invading Ottoman forces defeated those of the Kingdom of Hungary in the 16th century. What can it tell us about relations between Turkey and Hungary today? In Spain, Lottie Gross finds herself mesmerised by competing towers of people at the 27th Concurs de Castells in Tarragona. And in Brussels, Adam Fleming takes a break from reporting the negotiations on Britain’s withdrawal from the EU to play ‘Brexit the board game.’

Thousands of people have been intercepted by the Libyan coastguard as they try to reach Europe and sent to detention centres in the capital Tripoli. Gaining access to them is difficult, but that doesn’t mean those inside them have given up on trying to get their stories out. Sally Hayden hears tales of abandonment, abuse, and slavery. Kate Adie introduces this and other stories from journalists and correspondents around the world. Jatinder Sidhu hears from the pro-pot campaigners who won’t be celebrating the legalisation of the drug in Canada but are instead mourning the loss of a counter-culture which they’ve nurtured over decades. James Clayton tries to make sense of why manual scavenging persists in India – the use of human waste removers to clear blocked drains and sewers with their bare hands. Joey D’urso visits some of the beautiful central Italian towns that were partly destroyed by earthquakes in 2016. Have they and their inhabitants recovered? And Phoebe Smith finds herself lost for words as she s