Learn an expression to talk about the most important aspect of something. TRANSCRIPT Find a full transcript for this episode ✔️ https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/english/features/the-english-we-speak_2025/ep-250414 FIND BBC LEARNING ENGLISH HERE: Visit our website ✔️ https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish Follow us ✔️ https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/followus The Pronunciation Lounge ✔️https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/features/the_pronunciation_lounge Subscribe to our newsletter ✔️ https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/newsletters LIKE PODCASTS? Try some of our other popular podcasts including: ✔️ Learning English for Work ✔️ Learning English from the News ✔️ Learning English Stories They're all available by searching in your podcast app.
Maori have been protesting in large numbers, in a 9-day hikoi or march of defiance, walking from the top of New Zealand down to the capital Wellington, joined by non-Maori supporters too. They’re demonstrating against the current right-of-centre New Zealand government’s moves to abolish certain Maori-specific rights and privileges, that the previous centre-left government had set up to help combat Maori disadvantage. For example, a Maori Health Authority had tried to tackle health inequalities that mean Maori live seven years less than other New Zealanders. Maori also come bottom in statistics for employment, housing and education, but are overrepresented in prison. Now a law proposal about the principles of the 1840 Treaty of Waitangi, New Zealand’s founding document, would do away with what has been a form of affirmative action, and instead treat everyone the same, regardless of heritage. Some feel this is necessary to achieve proper equality. Others feel that Maori progress will be undone and inequality entrenched.
Also in the programme, Mark Zuckerberg takes the stand in a landmark trial that could see his social media giant Meta broken up. We hear from a senior figure in Marine Le Pen's National Rally about the impact of her embezzlement conviction on French politics. And as the British actress Aimee Lou Wood is mocked for the gap in her teeth, we look at the American obsession with the perfect smile.
Meta, the tech giant behind Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, faces a legal battle that could lead to its break-up. The landmark antitrust case kicked off in Washington today. Also in the US, consumer sentiment has taken a sharp downturn and inflation expectations have surged. What will this mean for everyday shoppers? And why are kids toys like Barbie going to take a hit? What does a Masters Championship win mean for the economy? Sam Fenwick speaks to a sports business expert about Rory McIlroy's grand slam win.
It's estimated that half-a-million people have been living in Zamzam - Sudan's largest refugee camp for people trying to escape the chaos of the country’s civil war. Now, tens of thousands are said to have fled the site after continued attacks from the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary. Ahead of a London-held conference that will discuss a potential ceasefire, we speak to a former UN envoy to Sudan. Also in the programme: US President Donald Trump, alongside the leader of El Salvador, defends the American deportation of Venezuelans accused of gang violence to Salvadoran prisons; and an all-female group of celebrities, including pop star Katy Perry, head to space. (Photo: Women and babies at the Zamzam displacement camp, close to al-Fashir in North Darfur, Sudan, January 2024. Credit: MSF/Mohamed Zakaria/Handout via REUTERS)
Dr Julia Ravey and Dr Ella Hubber are both scientists, but it turns out there’s a lot they don’t know about the women that came before them. In Unstoppable, Julia and Ella tell each other the hidden, world-shaping stories of the scientists, engineers and innovators that they wish they’d known about when they were starting out in science. This week, a Chinese malariologist who hunted for clues in ancient medical texts to find a cure for one of the world’s deadliest diseases. During a time of global political tension, the Chinese government set up a top-secret project to help communist troops in North Vietnam struggling with malaria. And tasked with this mission was young scientist, Tu Youyou. With a drive to help people after falling ill as a teenager and seeing the horrors of malaria firsthand, Tu turned to traditional Chinese medicine to look for potential treatments. And, after finding a hit, decided she should be the one to trial it... Named as arguably the most important pharmaceutical discovery in the last half-century, winning the 2015 Nobel Prize, discover how one woman used an overlooked herb combined with modern science to ultimately save millions of lives. Clip credit: Vietnam Special: War Without End, 1966 (BBC Archive) (Image: Chief Professor Tu Youyou, laureate of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine acknowledges applause after she received her Nobel Prize from King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden during the Nobel Prize Awards Ceremony at Concert Hall on December 10, 2015 in Stockholm, Sweden. Credit: Pascal Le Segretain/WireImage via GettyImages) Presenters: Ella Hubber and Julia Ravey Guest Speaker: Dr Xun Zhou, University of Essex Producers: Ella Hubber and Julia Ravey Assistant producers: Sophie Ormiston, Anna Charalambou and Josie Hardy Sound Designer: Ella Roberts Production Coordinator: Ishmael Soriano Editor: Holly Squire
Chinese leader Xi Jingping hits back at US tariffs as he starts his tour of East Asia, stating ‘The Trade war and tariff war will produce no winner’ OPEC - the cartel of oil producing countries - has cut its forecast for growth in oil demand for 2025- in part because of US tariffs And entertainment giant Sony will charge more for its Playstation 5 gaming console in response to the threat of US tariffs
The UN says more than 100 civilians, among them at least 20 children and a medical team, have been killed in a series of attacks in Sudan's western Darfur region. The attacks, on the city of el-Fasher and two nearby camps, Zamzam and Abu Shouk, have been blamed on the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF). They say they've taken control of Zamzam, but denied reports of atrocities. Also, what's it like working in the uninhabited continent of Antartica? And what everyone should know about menopause. Presenter: Audrey Brown Technical Producer: Pat Sissions Producers: Patricia Whitenorne and Bella Hassan Senior Journalist: Karnie Sharp Editors: Alice Muthengi and Andre Lombard
Ukraine's European allies express outrage at Russia's missile attack on the Ukrainian city of Sumy which left 34 civilians dead. We hear from two of the survivors - a mother and her 13-year-old son. Also in the programme: Sudan's civil war forces another mass displacement of people; Colombian author Juan Gabriel Vasquez remembers his Peruvian friend Mario Vargas Llosa, one of Latin America’s literary greats; and the story of skill and resilience that led Rory McIlroy to sporting immortality. (IMAGE: Ukrainian rescuers at the site of a rocket strike in downtown Sumy, Ukraine, which killed at least 32 people including two children, and injured 84 people including 10 children,13 April 2025 / CREDIT: Photo by UKRAINE STATE EMERGENCY SERVICE HANDOUT/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)
McIlroy completes career grand slam with Masters win etching his name in sporting history
Learn about strong adjectives in this wonderful, fantastic, amazing podcast. FIND BBC LEARNING ENGLISH HERE: Visit our website ✔️https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish Follow us ✔️https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/followus NEWSLETTER: https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/newsletters LIKE PODCASTS? Try some of our other popular podcasts including: ✔️ Learning Easy English ✔️ 6 Minute English ✔️ Learning English Stories They're all available by searching in your podcast app.
For 60 years, New York composer Steve Reich has been one of classical music’s most celebrated revolutionaries. Pioneering minimalism in the 1960s, a musical style based on repetition and shifting rhythms, his strange experiments with cassette tape led to orchestral masterpieces – now performed around the world. His career has not only helped define the latest era of classical music, but had an enormous influence on pop, rock and electronica. He has helped shape 20th Century music in a way few can claim to match. To mark 60 years since his first major piece,1965’s It’s Gonna Rain, he takes Alastair Shuttleworth through the process and stories behind some of his greatest works, including Clapping Music, Different Trains and City Life. He also reflects on his legacy, his plans for the future and what, at the age of 88, still inspires him to compose
Moscow's attack on the north-eastern Ukrainian city of Sumy marked the bloodiest day for Ukrainian civilians in 2025 so far, with at least 34 people killed. A Sumy resident tells us the area struck was busy with people leaving church. Also on the programme: Hong Kong's once-thriving Democratic Party votes to begin its own dissolution; and scientists in London say they have successfully grown human teeth in a lab for the first time. (Photo: A Ukrainian serviceman walks at the site of a Russian missile strike amid Russia's attack on Ukraine in Sumy. Credit: Reuters)
Devastating attacks on a camp hosting hundreds of thousands of people who had fled Sudan's civil war have continued for a third day, residents say. One person in the Zamzam camp described the situation as "extremely catastrophic" while another said things were "dire". Also in the programme: A Russian ballistic missile strike in the northeast Ukrainian city of Sumy; and what happened to Gaza's last hospital? (Photo: Zamzam camp near el-Fasher hosts hundreds of thousands of people, who are living in famine-like condition. Credit: AFP)
On 8 May 1945 Britain, the US and many other countries were rejoicing. Germany had surrendered, and World War Two was over, at least in Europe. Yet it was not a day of celebration for everyone - for the vanquished Germans, it marked the end of bombings and of Nazi rule. But it was also a time of deprivation and chaos, fear and soul-searching. Millions of ethnic Germans had fled their homes to escape the approaching Red Army. Lore Wolfson Windemuth, whose own father grew up under Nazi rule, unearths the stories of six ordinary Germans who lived through that extraordinary time.
Iran and the United States have concluded a first round of talks in Oman over Tehran's nuclear programme - the highest level meeting between the two nations since 2018. We’ll speak to former United States Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman who negotiated the 2015 agreement with Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. Also on the programme: US President Donald Trump's administration has exempted smartphones, computers and some other electronic devices from "reciprocal" tariffs; and a morris dancer who scored a new world record by dancing non-stop for 11 hours. (Photo: Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi speaks to the media in Beirut, Lebanon, October 4, 2024. Credit: Reuters)
آب و خاک و هوا سه عنصر اساسیست که حالا تهران در کیفیت نازل و هر روز رو به کاهش به ساکنانش عرضه میکند. راه حل چیست؟ میهمانها: کامران دیبا، معمار و شهرساز علی مدنیپور، استاد دانشگاه در طراحی شهری
High-level delegates from the US and Iran are in Oman for talks about Iran's nuclear programme. We'll hear a view from Tehran. Also on the programme: after a week of uncertainty over Donald Trump's tariffs, we hear how the Ancient Romans used a similar policy; and in the Colombian city of Medellín, an unusual reminder to put out your garbage. (Photo: Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian visits Iran's nuclear achievements exhibition in Tehran, Iran on April 9, 2025. Credit: REUTERS)