Is there another country in the world where you could wake up on New Year's Day and hear this kind of discussion between two senior politicians, orchestrated by the national broadcaster?
Evan Davis on the Today programme had Labour's Stephen Pound and the Conservatives' Alan Duncan back for a follow-up to an earlier item in which their brains had been scanned - to reveal, claimed UCL researchers, that political ideology correlates with physical attributes of the brain. The story was picked up nationally and internationally.
What was so impressive here was the seamless mixing of really interesting, difficult questions - about genetic determinism and the origins of political belief - with wit, mischief, and knockabout humour.
That this kind of idiosyncratic piece can flourish is to the credit of presenter, producer, series editor and Radio 4 as a whole. And to the BBC as an institution, which has, despite all sorts of problems to deal with, an atmosphere of genuine creative confidence - hutzpah even, you might say.
That kind of culture isn't the result of audience analysis or strategic plans: it comes from real belief in what you're doing. And that can't be whipped up overnight. It's years - decades, rather - in the making, and worth hanging on to in 2011 and beyond.
Oh, and don't forget the technical skills either: the timing on this piece was spot-on. You can't hear it in the above link, but the nine o'clock pips came in half a second later. It was like the best jazz: both spontaneous and disciplined.
