The Documentary Podcast

There are over 730 sinkholes in central Turkey, and their numbers are surging, threatening farmers’ livelihoods and the country’s food supply chain. These sinkholes occur suddenly when the soil collapses, forming a gaping hole in the earth. The sinkholes are a symptom of the ongoing drought and unsustainable water extraction in Konya province, Turkey's agricultural heartland.
The production of water-thirsty crops such as sugar beet is prioritised in this region, which is used to make Turkey’s sugar. To irrigate these crops, farmers have had to rely on licensed and unlicensed wells tapping into the groundwater. Years of drought has meant that underground reserves cannot be renewed, making current farming practices unsustainable. The increased formation of sinkholes is not a surprise for experts who have been warning for years that extracting groundwater could tip the balance of nature. These sinkholes have luckily not caused any deaths but they are revealing that time is running out to save water and agriculture in this region.

Myra Anubi looks at two solutions that harness the power of pictures to help disabled people. Books Beyond Words is a UK charity that publishes books with no words, just big pictures on every page. They are made for people with learning disabilities, who come together to read them in book clubs. Myra also hears about TapSOS, the only smartphone app to be approved by the UK’s emergency services, which is aimed at people who struggle to speak on the phone. We hear from one user who believes it saved his life.

Russian is the first language of millions of Ukrainians, including many of the country’s frontline troops. But it is also the language of their enemy. Its public use is increasingly restricted by law, with ever more measures to enforce communication in Ukrainian. Ukrainians are allowed to speak Russian in private conversations. But they can be fined for playing a Russian language song in the street, if the singer or composer is a Russian citizen. The state says Russian must be policed because Russia uses the language as a weapon to spread its influence. But in primarily Russian-speaking places such as Odesa, Ukraine’s third-largest city, many are unhappy about the language laws. Tim Whewell reports on the arguments dividing a city under constant Russian bombardment, as one side calls the Russian language a colonial hangover, while the other says cultural diversity is what Ukraine should be fighting for.

There is a general fear that artificial intelligence could make huge swathes of workers redundant, but are those fears unjustified? Rob Young asks what history can tell us about big technological leaps and how they changed the world of work at the time. How much of the rate of change comes down to customer preference - would you rather deal with a bot or a person?

We visit two projects exploring practical responses to homelessness and housing insecurity. Presenter Myra Anubi travels to Edinburgh to see the work of Social Bite, a charity creating small communities of prefabricated homes on unused land, offering people a stable place to live and rebuild their lives. Meanwhile, in Nantes, western France, we meet the team behind Bureaux du Cœur, which partners with businesses to open up unused office space as safe overnight accommodation for people in need.