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Moral Failure and Deadly Negligence (with Sara Pascoe and Matt Winning)

How do we respond to dour climate headlines? Is it too big to comprehend? Can we stay in a state of panic for the next 35 years, and how can we communicate the crisis better?

António Guterres has said that missing the 1.5 degree climate target is "a moral failure and deadly negligence". Is he right?

Dr Matt Winning joins Sara Pascoe and Armando to discuss the language around climate change. Is it proportionately alarmist, or does it just scare us? Are we numb to the jaw-dropping headlines?

Matt has some ideas of how to communicate these complex ideas more succinctly, and tell us of the days spend at COP agonising over whether 'urges' or 'suggests' makes it into an agreement. We also look at how language has been used to put the onus on us, rather than corporations, for waste and pollution, and a Swedish word that should make its way into Keir Starmer's vocabulary.

Listen to Strong Message Here every Thursday at 9.45am on Radio 4 and then head straight to BBC Sounds for an extended episode.

Have you stumbled upon any perplexing political phrases you need Armando to decode? Email them to us at [email protected]

Sound Editing by Chris Maclean
Production Coordinator - Jodie Charman
Executive Producer - Pete Strauss

Produced by Gwyn Rhys Davies. A BBC Studios production for Radio 4.
An EcoAudio Certified Production.

Available now

38 minutes

Last on

Thu 20 Nov 202521:45
BBC Radio 4

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  • Thu 20 Nov 202509:45
    BBC Radio 4
  • Thu 20 Nov 202521:45
    BBC Radio 4

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  • Strong Message Here

    Armando Iannucci and guests decode the utterly baffling world of political language.