The Takeaway

Audio Essay: John Hockenberry’s Week in London

Takeaway listener Katie Osweiler sent us the following this morning via Facebook:

I only caught the end of John’s story on being on the BBC, but I loved it! When I worked in England it was all about tea breaks and going to the pub after work. Sounds like John had a similar experience. And he’s SO right about the news coverage. We moved there in the fall of 2008 and it was SO nice to miss the presidential election coverage in the US media! Now that I’m back in the States, I listen to NPR and never turn on the TV. Keep up the good work!

You can hear John’s entire essay about his trip to London above.

Host John Hockenberry visits the Design Museum in London.

On today’s show, John Hockenberry interviewed one of our own, Managing Editor Rupert Allman, about his impressions on the unrest roiling Britain. Allman, of the BBC, says the line between those who feel lucky to be a British resident and those who do not is an invisible one. He spoke about unrest in his country in the 1980s, and how some people feel lucky to be born in Britain, and are invested in their community, while others do not. It’s a distinction that is difficult to see, but incredibly important, when the chips are down.

The weekend saw riots tear through London’s Tottenham neighborhood. This video from the Associated Press shows the results of the violence and looting incited by both deep cuts to social services and anti-police sentiments felt in the neighborhood.