16/03/2018

Roger Bolton asks if the BBC was slow to report allegations of sexual abuse in Telford, and the BBC's News Editor responds to concerns. Also this week - listeners' least favourite phrases, the new Welsh breakfast show, and memories of hearing the late Professor Stephen Hawking on the radio.

After the Sunday Mirror reported allegations of wide ranging sexual abuse of more than 1000 girls over a 40 year period in Telford, a number of national commentators and columnists accused the BBC of failing to give the story sufficient attention and prominence. In particular, it was suggested that the BBC had been held back by political correctness, since many of the accused offenders are of Asian origin. What followed was a huge twitter storm, with users on both sides angrily disputing the BBC's coverage. The BBC's News Editor James Stephenson joins Roger o discuss how the corporation's news division approached the story.

On A Point of View, sociologist Tom Shakespeare laid out with forensic ferocity why he hates the phrase "going forward" - prompting listeners to weigh in with their own linguistic bugbears. Tom sits down with Roger to discuss why people on the radio should watch their words.

And the physicist Stephen Hawking was renowned all over the world as a physicist, but to Feedback listeners he was also an exceptional broadcaster, appearing on everything from Desert Island Discs and The Reith Lectures to the current series of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Fans of his warmth, clarity and humour tell their stories of hearing him on the radio.

Producer: Will Yates A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.