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That is the priority task of Sir Simon Macdonald, the Permanent Secretary – the c...hief civil servant - in a Foreign Office headed, for the moment, by Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson. Politicians may come and go, but civil servants remain. We follow the diplomats as they wrestle with a series of crises and challenges. At the United Nations in New York, as world leaders gather for the special General Assembly week, the UK team juggle tasks from the delicate matter of who sits where – and the pr
As diplomats prepare for the post-Brexit world, film-maker Michael Waldman eavesdro...ps on uninhibited discussions in Whitehall, in far-flung embassies in Nigeria and Mongolia and on the Foreign Secretary’s RAF plane around Europe. Senior ambassadors are summoned back to London to discuss how to make ‘Global Britain’ a reality after the UK leaves the European Union. As the chief civil servant, Sir Simon McDonald has the responsibility to advise whoever is the Foreign Secretary – and to ral
Tim Harford tries to find out why this is the week of the year in which most deaths... occur. It's often thought that the spike in so-called 'excess' winter deaths is caused at least in part by the fact that some people living in poverty can't afford to turn up the central heating when freezing weather sets in. But Tim discovers the picture is much more complicated than that. He goes through the data with Claudia Wells from the Office for National Statistics, and Professor Rachel Vreeman of the Ind
In this episode, the fixers take on three more challenges to change lives, includin...g one of their toughest yet when they try to help a young boy with Tourette's to control his tics and behavioural issues. Eleven-year-old Malachi lives with his mum and younger brother in Cornwall. Malachi has Tourette's Syndrome, a neurological condition characterised by involuntary movements and noises called tics. He also has Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and struggles with disruptive urges and viol
