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2021 marks the 60th anniversary of the United Nations’ World Food Programme and it faces one of its most critical years, with 270 million of the world’s population predicted to be on the brink of starvation. Last year the organisation won the Nobel Peace Prize for its work and this morning Elisabeth Faure, Director of its UK Office, talks about the famine danger spots in the world and what the World Food Programme is doing to help.

A new online exhibition called ‘Fair Game’ is tracing the major changes in life on Shetland. Some of the changes, such as whaling for food and oil, are uncomfortable when seen through modern eyes, but the exhibition explores why they were needed for the everyday lives of Shetlanders. Cathy talks to Shetland Museum and Archives curator Dr Ian Tait.

Traditions and beliefs can lose their relevance and acceptability when society modernises and changes, but how comfortable are we with change? Writer and broadcaster Richard Holloway, and psychotherapist Dr Salma Siddique join Cathy to discuss this fascinating subject.

Today marks World Leprosy Day, and we’ll hear a personal story of someone living in Scotland who had leprosy and how it’s impacted them. Cathy will also talk to Linda Todd, CEO of The Leprosy Mission and hear about the survey they commissioned to find out what Scots know about leprosy, and how much old myths around the condition still exist.

Between New Year’s Day and the end of April last year doctor and author Rachel Clarke wrote during her sleepless nights about the pandemic, recording those first uneasy rumours from Wuhan, through to witnessing and participating in the NHS response in the UK. Her book ‘Breathtaking - Inside the NHS in a Time of Pandemic’ is a testament to that time, and to many of the staff she talked to and worked alongside.

Close to 4,000 people in Scotland—overwhelmingly women—were thought to have been tried for witchcraft from the 16th to the early 18th century. A new cultural project, Heal and Harrow, is being developed by two traditional folk musicians to remember those accused and to give them a voice. Rachel Newton and Lauren MacColl talk to Cathy about what they want to create, and why.