REVIEWS: Tazeen Ahmad, Dispatches:When Cousins Marry

The Observer, 29.08.10
Dispatches, which has been even more magnificent than usual this run, gave us a deeply worrying conundrum about first-cousin marriages. More than half of British Pakistanis marry their first cousins. The statistics are appalling: 30 per cent of children in this country with serious genetic diseases are British Pakistani; yet the ethnic grouping makes up only 1.5 per cent of our population. You do the Maths: as did Tazeen Ahmad, the fabulous presenter, with empathy and great and justifiable worry.
Euan Ferguson

The Times, 24.08.10
Ahmad, who is a British Pakistani, whose grandparents are first cousins (five daughters died in childhood, three boys were born deaf), made a passionate yet balanced film that demonstrated the distinction.
Andrew Billen

The Daily Express, 24.08.10
This was a really fine, if at times harrowing, piece of television. All praise to Dispatches for bringing it to light. Virginia Blackburn The Sunday Times, 29.08.10 Many of these problems were discussed by a young British Pakistani woman brave enough to report on this last week on Channel 4’s Dispatches programme.
Minette Marrin

The Sunday Times, 29.08.10
Pakistinis were the subject of ‘When Cousins Marry’, a commendably even-handed and thoughtful examination of the prevalence of first cousin marriages among the British Pakistini community.
A A Gill

The New Statesman, 27.08.2010
"...Ahmad's film was exemplary journalism, clear sighted, non-judgmental, quietly bewildered. In an age of celebrity and hype, she delivered - can you believe it? - a proper story."
Rachel Cooke

The Mail on Sunday, 22.08.10
So much praise is due to Channel 4 for making a courageous and moving documentary on this subject (When Cousins Marry) which will almost certainly have you in tears if you have any feelings at all. The film goes more deeply, generously and sympathetically inside Britain’s Pakistani community than anything else I’ve ever seen on British TV, thanks to a highly intelligent and fair-minded piece of presenting and reporting by Tazeen Ahmad. With a bit of luck it will at last allow this difficult subject to be discussed openly, and many personal tragedies to be avoided.
Peter Hitchens

Rosie Millard, The Blitz: London, Tuesday 7th September 2010, 7.45pm-8pm, BBC Radio4 (also broadcast at 10.45am as part of Woman's Hour)

Rosie Millard explores the technology that defended the capital during the Blitz, from the searchlights that swept the sky hunting for German bombers, to the inaccurate anti-aircraft guns. She speaks to Londoners who operated the many devices that became part of life during the bombing campaign, and hears the story of those in charge of the hydrogen-filled barrage balloons that floated eerily above the city.

Pick of the Day. Weekend Magazine - Daily Mail, Saturday 4th September 2010
****
"Rosie Millard hears from Londoners - and what a spirited bunch they are - who manned the ack-ack guns and barrage balloons during the Blitz."

Peter Sissons, The Blitz: Liverpool, Monday 6th September 2010, 7.45pm-8pm, BBC Radio4 (also broadcast at 10.45am as part of Woman's Hour)

Peter Sissons visits his home city to examine an account of the Blitz on Merseyside - a secret diary kept by Arthur Johnson, one of Liverpool's wartime reporters, whose personal records contrast starkly with his censored newspaper correspondence. Peter also explores an underground complex, from where the Battle of the Atlantic was co-ordinated.

Pick of the Day, Weekend Magazine - Daily Mail, Saturday 4th September 2010
****
"Peter Sissons reports how wave after wave of bombers came in from the Irish Sea, delivering death and destruction."

Angela Rippon, The Blitz: Plymouth, Sunday 5th September 2010, 7.45pm-8pm, BBC Radio 4

In the first of a series of programmes telling stories of the Blitz from across the UK, Angela Rippon visits her home city to find out how children coped during the Second World War bombing campaign. Exploring a fascinating archive of logs kept by schools, she also meets some of those youngsters, most of whom are now in their eighties. 

Gillian Reynolds' This Week's Radio Choices, Seven Magazine - The Sunday Telegraph, 5th September 2010
"Angela Rippon begins with an account of the air raids on her home city of Plymouth"

Pick of the Day, Culture Magazine - The Sunday Times, 5th September 2010
"Angela Rippon returns to her home city of Plymouth where 1,200 people were killed by German bombings in 1940-41"

Listen to The Blitz with Angela Rippon

Judi James, Big Brother's Little Brother, Wednesday 25th August, 6pm - 6.25pm, E4

Judi James is a guest on today's show discussing the latest developments in the Big Brother house.

Joanna Yarrow, The Great British Waste Menu, Wednesday 25th August 2010, 8.30pm - 10pm, BBC1

Joanna Yarrow is one of the guests in this programme where four of the country's top chefs source unwanted food from every point on the food chain to highlight the huge amount of perfectly edible produce that is thrown away every day.

James Max, Drive Show, Monday 23rd -  Friday 27th August 2010, 4pm - 7pm, LBC Radio (97.3FM)

James Max is presenting the drivetime show on LBC Radio. 

Matthew Bannister, The Jeremy Vine Show, Monday 23rd August - Friday 27th August 2010, 12pm - 2pm, BBC Radio 2

Matthew Bannister is sitting in for Jeremy Vine talking to the people making the headlines. 

Justin Ryan and Colin McAllister, The Michael Ball Show, Monday 23rd August 2010, 3pm - 4pm, ITV1

Design duo Colin McAllister and Justin Ryan are guests on today's show talking about their Home Heist 2 series trasnmitting on The Style Network (Sky Channel 253) from 25th August 2010.

Tazeen Ahmad, Dispatches: When Cousins Marry, Monday 23rd August, 8pm - 9pm, Channel 4

Revealing the tragic consequences of first cousin marriage in the UK. A common practice in Britain's Pakistani, Middle Eastern, East African and Bangladeshi community, this behaviour results in hundreds of children being born with severe disabilities, including birth defects, learning difficulties, blindness and, later on, infertility. Tazeen Ahmed asks why there is no national campaign warning of these risks and why the practice is still a taboo subject.