BBC Radio 4 Podcasts

The Lancashire cotton industry, in the north of England, was at the heart of the world's industrial revolution and the main engine of the British economy. Peter Day finds out how it struggles to survive. Producer: Sandra Kanthal Editor: Stephen Chilcott

Winning the Commons lottery. Advice for MPs who've won the right to bring in a bill of their very own + bruising internal elections for Conservatives.

Barack Obama has told the new French president that settling the Eurozone crisis matters to the whole world. But is the G8 an effective body to discuss global crises? Shares in the social network site Facebook have gone on sale to the public, the company is now the most valuable ever launched in the US. And what will next week's presidential election in Egypt mean for the future of the country's peace treaty with Israel?

Will Self ponders the future of Europe as he stands by Berlin's Brandenburg gate and asks whether we should consider an end to the European Union "in its current banjaxed form".

Rolf Harris on his art and other talents; how actors convincingly play drunk; Paul Whitehouse on Shakespeare; Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau obituary.

Peggy speaks her mind and David gets an unexpected call.

Bailouts, Benefits and Blue Peter. Sandi Toksvig hosts with guests Jeremy Hardy, Bob Mills, Susan Calman and Matt Forde in the week that Greece dipped, cuts soared, and Blue Peter sank.

Markets react to Greece and Spain woes / Free parenting classes / Queen's Diamond Jubilee lunch / Sacha Baron Cohen's Dictator / Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau

Matthew Bannister on: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, lyrical German baritone famed for his interpretation of Schubert's "Winterreise"; Horst Faas, photographer of the Vietnam war and two-times winner of the Pulitzer Prize; Carlos Fuentes, the Mexican author who became a key figure in the flowering of Latin American literature in the 1960s; Lord Glenamara, who as Labour MP Ted Short was the Chief Whip who kept Harold Wilson in power; and Donna Summer, the disco queen of the 1970s who later became a born again Christian.

Bunny Guinness, Chris Beardshaw and Bob Flowerdew answer gardening questions in Thornbury. Eric Robson is in the chair. Anne Swithinbank revisits Jenie Eastman as part of our Listeners' Gardens series.

Alan Dein tells the story of the ground-breaking oral historian Tony Parker and tries to get behind the pseudonyms to track down some of Parker's interviewees.

This week, we talked to young blogger Martha Payne about how healthy school dinners really are and discussed the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency's claim that voluntary recalls are working perfectly well. We looked at the digital listening target for 2015 against the latest RAJAR figures, explore the practicalities of a blanket opt-out for pornography websites and revealed how students are cheating on their UCAS forms.

The Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks

Paul and Anna wake up one morning to find their neighbourhood has been enclosed by a wall, and everyone inside it classified. Ed Harris’ drama takes a provocative look at inequality and the politics of localism. With Javone Prince, Louise Brealey, Jessica Raine and Dona Croll.

Germaine Greer and Australian journalist, Julia Baird discuss the Australian Prime Minister, Julia Gilliard's fashion sense .When is a good time for couples to have that "proper chat"? Comedian Justin Moorhouse and columnist Lucy Mangan discuss. Former Wikileaks spokesperson and Icelandic MP Birgitta Jonsdottir speaks about her vision for political systems of the future.

Sacha Baron Cohen speaks to arts editor Will Gompertz in his first ever broadcast interview as himself in Britain, to discuss his work and motivations, including the influence his Jewish faith has had on his career.

Can you teach someone to be a good parent? Jill Kirby, a policy analyst with a focus on social and domestic issues, and Frank Field, former minister for welfare reform, debate David Cameron's new scheme to award vouchers to parents.

The euro crisis spotlight has turned on Spain with a credit rating downgrade and unemployment at a record high. Justin Webb has been taking the temperature on the streets of Madrid.

The rating agency Moody's has downgraded sixteen Spanish banks. James Bevan, chief investment officer at CCLA investment management, gives his view on what this means for Spain and the rest of the eurozone. And this week's Friday Boss is Dido Harding, chief executive of Talktalk.

The Agriculture Minister Jim Paice is in China, hoping to reach a deal allowing UK pork into the country. Meanwhile, Ireland already exports pork and dairy products to China, a trade which was worth 200 million euros in 2011. The Irish Food Board explains how they broke into the market, and we hear about the benefits it brings to Ireland's dairy farming heartland. Also in the programme, why the reverbertations of the Eurozone crisis are reaching the British countryside. And, cider makers are wondering when their trees will finally burst fully into blossom.