Samira Hussain investigates the brand of the British Royal Family. It's estimated to be one of the biggest brands in the world, steeped in history, tradition and of course scandal...

In the Queen's Platinum Jubilee year we look at how recent events have changed things for the royal brand and what coming changes and challenges could mean going forward. Pauline McLaran, professor of marketing and consumer research at Royal Holloway University and co-author of Royal Fever: The British Monarchy in Consumer Culture explains how this multi-faceted brand actually functions and what she thinks are the biggest problems it faces.

We'll also explore whether being associated with brand Royal is still good for business. Jason Bell is a photographer based in New York. He took the photographs of Prince George’s christening and tells us about the media interest in him being linked with that job and the global response to his pictures. Chef Darren McGrady, who cooked for the Queen and Princess Diana for many years, also joins us. Darren now runs a business in Dallas, Texas called Eating Royally. He says working for the royals definitely opened doors for him, but has questions about the future of the brand.

Presenter: Samira Hussian Producer: Carmel O'Grady

(Image: Queen Elizabeth II and members of the royal family; Credit: Victoria Jones / PA Wire)

How does plastic get from your bin to the recycling plant? According to The Pew Charitable Trust, 60% of plastic recycling globally comes from individual waste pickers, an informal economy of millions of people who go out picking up plastic every day. As the world starts to look at ways to reduce our plastic waste, how might this impact the livelihoods of the waste pickers who rely on it?

We hear from Gladys Mwamba at Plastic for Change in Zambia, who spotted an opportunity to use her Chinese language skills by acting for local waste pickers selling to Chinese recycling firms. On a larger scale, a for profit social enterprise called The Plastic Bank in Canada is working with over 20,000 waste collectors in Brazil, Indonesia, The Philippines and Egypt. They offer above market prices for plastic, alongside subsidised education programmes and other necessities such as food and fuel. Rich Gower, a senior economist at Tearfund, a Christian international development charity, tells us why an international plastics treaty this year is a key moment for waste pickers. In many countries waste pickers are organising into unions or co-operatives. We speak to representatives from SWaCH, a co-operative of waste pickers in Pune, South India, that has been running since 1993.

Presented and produced by Beatrice Pickup. Additional reporting by Mutuna Chanda.

Image: Gladys Mwamba at Plastic for Change in Kitwe, Zambia; Credit: Mutuna Chanda

Hertzy Kabeya – the first in our million by 30 series - tells us how he developed and launched what’s become an enormously successful education tech company.

Hertzy overcame huge setbacks as founder and CEO of Student Hub. The company almost went bust but Hertzy's drive and leadership ensured the business survived and went on to secure multi million dollar investment. Find out how he did it, what he thinks his business superpower is and what he learned on the way to hitting that million benchmark by his 30th birthday.

Presenter: Felicity Hannah Producer: Helen Thomas

Image: Hertzy Kabeya, Credit: Hertzy Kabeya

Exclusive flight data from ForwardKeys shows a huge reduction in the number of Russian tourists going to Turkey and other popular resorts. We hear from businesses in Antalya about the impact it has had so far, and about what might happen over the coming holiday season. Experts Olivier Ponti from ForwardKeys, which analyses tourism trends, and Ana Nichols from EIU, which produces economic insight, explain the economic causes and effects of this reduction in travellers and the knock-on effects of the war. A B&B owner in The Seychelles tells us about a boom in Russian tourists last year, which has now completely vanished due to the invasion of Ukraine. We also hear from a Russian man who had booked a holiday there, but has changed his plans to go somewhere slightly colder instead.

Presenter: Sam Fenwick Producer: Hannah Bewley Photo: Getty Images

Fast and portable genome testing is unlocking the secrets to ourselves and the environment we live in.

It's impact could lead us to fundamentally remake our approach to medicine, agriculture, the environment, conservation and our selves.

In this episode we hear from Dr Lara Urban, a geneticist studying the kakapo in New Zealand, Dr Gordon Sanghera, CEO of Oxford Nanopore Technologies and Professor Anna Schuh, professor of molecular diagnostics at the Department of Oncology at Oxford University and visiting professor at Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences in Tanzania.

Presenter / Producer: David Reid Photo: Kakapo; Credit: Liu Yang

During the pandemic businesses shut down and traditional jobs were lost forcing people to rethink how they earn a living. Since then one of the biggest shifts in the economy has been the rise of digital platforms – online market places which sell everything from fruit and veg to TVs and kitchen appliances. In Africa women have found new careers using Facebook and WhatsApp as well as ride-hailing apps like Uber and Bolt.

Sam Fenwick meets three women who have found financial independence by starting businesses on these platforms. Josephine Adzogble from Accra in Ghana has a business selling electrical appliances via social media. Ayobami Lawal drives taxis in Lagos, Nigeria. The single mum of four talks about the challenges of being a woman in a male-dominated environment. And Sharon Tarit from Eldoret, Kenya sublets properties through AirBnB. She started her business after she was forced to permanently close her shop selling baby clothes during the pandemic.

Sam Fenwick is also joined by lead researcher at Caribou Digital, Grace Natabaalo who explains why it’s important for women to have financial independence and the impact female workers can have on a country’s economy.

Presenter / Producer : Sam Fenwick Photo : Josephine Adzogble, Ayobami Lawal, Sharon Tarit; Credit: BBC

What’s it like to live in a country on the sharp end of climate change? Today Tamasin Ford takes you to Sâo Tomé and Príncipe, the twin island nation in the gulf of Guinea. With the smallest economy in Africa, it has few means to fight what the UN calls the biggest threat modern humans have ever faced. We hear from coastal communities whose homes have been washed away because of rising sea levels.

President Carlos Vila Nova, who spoke at the United Nation’s climate conference in Glasgow last year, lays out the challenges small island nations face. While Luisa Madruga from the charity, Flora and Fauna International, explains how a new initiative could save fish stocks from disappearing altogether.

Presenter: Tamasin Ford Producer: Russell Newlove Photo: Principe, the community of Praia de Burras; Credit: BBC

We look into the decision by Florida's governor Ron DeSantis to dissolve Disney's special status in the state. It follows Disney's criticism of a new law restricting discussion of LGBTQ issues in schools. What will the row mean for the company, and what questions does it raise for other companies navigating the so-called 'culture wars'?

We hear from Disney historian Richard Foglesong, and a former vice president of operations at Disney World, Lee Cockerell. The New York Post columnist Karol Markowicz and Christina Huguet, an analyst at political risk consultancy Eurasia Group, give their perspectives on whether companies should take a stand on the issues of the day.

Presenter: Rahul Tandon Producer: James Graham Photo: A Disney employee protests against the company's initial silence on a controversial new law restricting discussion of LGBTQ issues in schools. (Credit: Getty Images)

We look into why sales of brooches have soared, and why they can be such a powerful accessory. Governor of the bank of Russia Elvia Nabiullina says the brooches she wears contain clues to understanding policy decisions, and the late Madeleine Albright, former USA Secretary of State, used to wear them as a diplomatic tool.

Brooches are currently gaining popularity among consumers and fashion brands are taking note, as Dolce & Gabbana’s Carlos Palacios and British Vogue’s Carol Woolton tell us.

Paul Paradis, an art historian from L’ECOLE School of Jewellery Arts in Paris, takes us through the history of brooches, and jewellery historian Vivienne Becker tells us what it was like to work with Madeleine Albright, and help pen her novel Read My Pins.

And we speak to Cindy Chao, one of the world’s most famous brooch makers, who became the first Asian female to get her work inducted into the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Presenter: Vivienne Nunis Producer: Izzy Greenfield

(Photo: Lady Gaga at the inauguration of Joe Biden as the 46th President of the United States. Credit: Getty Images)

As the spectre of food insecurity grows and climate change threatens lives and livelihoods, could enset play a part in assuaging hunger? Elizabeth Hotson delves into the many and varied properties of a crop consumed mainly in parts of Ethiopia and she asks how it might be possible to widen the appeal of a plant which takes months to turn into an something edible.

Dr Wendewek Abebe from Hawassa university in southern Ethiopia is a leading researcher of enset and he explains why it’s known as the ‘tree against hunger.’ Dr Abebe also takes us on a trip to meet a farmer who cultivates the crop and considers it a superfood. Back in the UK, Dr James Borrell, a research fellow at Kew Gardens in London explains why cultivating - and ultimately consuming enset - takes a lot of time, energy and local knowledge. And Berhanu Tesfaye, owner of Zeret Kitchen, an Ethiopian restaurant in London, shares a rare meal of kocho - bread made from enset.

(Photo: Enset crop in Southern Ethiopia. Credit: Getty Images)

Presenter/producer: Elizabeth Hotson

Millions of people have been locked down in China for weeks, as the country battles a surge in Omicron cases, with a zero-Covid policy.

We follow one young woman’s journey across the country as she tries to reach her home in central China amid layers of bureaucracy and travel restrictions.

We hear how the lockdown is causing some major disruptions to the Chinese economy from Julian Evans-Pritchard, a China Analyst at Capital Economics.

Businessman Kent Kedl, who works at a Shanghai based risk consultancy firm, tells us what business – and life – has been like in lockdown.

And US-based epidemiologist Eric Feigl-Ding explains the advantages and disadvantages of China's Covid policies.

Presenter/Producer: Vivienne Nunis Picture: Reuters (person sits behind barrier)

Ivana Davidovic investigates urban mining - the process of reclaiming raw materials from spent products, buildings and waste. She looks at what new technologies are helping us to recycle waste and the benefits that could bring.

In Antwerp, Belgium, she visits Umicore, once a traditional smelting company, which now specialises in extracting precious metals from electronics - and then puts them into new products, like catalysts or car battery components.

On the other side of the world - in Sydney, Australia - professor and inventor Veena Sahajwalla explains her innovative way to produce so-called "green steel."

Jessika Richter, a researcher from Lundt University in Sweden, tells us why the booming electric vehicles industry will increasingly have to find raw materials for batteries outside of conventional mining. Heather Clancy, the editor of the US-based Green Biz magazine, says US carmakers are now investing in urban mining.

Pascal Leroy, the director-general of the WEEE Forum, discusses how re-using waste can help the rest of the world become less dependent on rare earth materials which come from Russia, China and Ukraine.

PHOTO: Aerial view waste management facility with cityscape background/Getty Images