Main content

The Land, the Sea and the People

Correspondents' thoughts on the US Republican National Convention, Chinese trade with Sierra Leone, a career reporting on the Middle East and coexistence on the Faroe Islands

Owen Bennett Jones introduces insight, wit and analysis from correspondents and writers around the world. In this edition: Jon Sopel reflects on how Donald Trump broke all the rules - and has still made it as far as the US Republican National Convention as his party's choice as presidential candidate. Olivia Acland braves the waves around Banana Island, a tiny speck of land off the coast of Sierra Leone which hoped for better things when Chinese traders came offering a good deal for its sea cucumbers. Although some fishermen have profited, there's not much sign of lasting development. Jim Muir has been one of the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ's most distinguished reporters from and about the Middle East for decades; as he prepares to move on, he recalls first arriving in Beirut in 1974, weighs up the wars he's witnessed since, and reaffirms his love for Lebanon. And on some of the smaller islands of the Faroes - so rugged and remote that sheep regularly die falling off the cliffs - Tim Ecott learns about how the humans, their flocks, and the huge colonies of migratory birds on the archipelago have shaped the landscape for each other.

Photo: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at the Grand Park Events Center on July 12, 2016 in Westfield, Indiana. (Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images)

Available now

23 minutes

Last on

Sun 17 Jul 2016 22:06GMT

Broadcasts

  • Sat 16 Jul 2016 02:06GMT
  • Sat 16 Jul 2016 23:06GMT
  • Sun 17 Jul 2016 08:06GMT
  • Sun 17 Jul 2016 14:06GMT
  • Sun 17 Jul 2016 22:06GMT