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Episode details

Radio 4,11 Jun 2016,30 mins

Old Habits Die Hard

From Our Own Correspondent

Available for over a year

Around the world in less than half an hour. A slump in global oil prices has hit Angola hard but still, there are glimpses of wealth everywhere while abject poverty's still never far away. The Iraqi city of Basra is governed by hardline Iranian-backed Islamist politicians but that doesn't stop its citizens enjoying themselves at a brand new shopping mall they call Times Square. What happens to the clothes you give away to charity shops? Many are beginning a journey which could lead to countries in Asia or Africa - but first stop, we learn, might be a giant warehouse in Hungary. The quality of the air in Hong Kong has reached new lows and people are becoming ill with respiratory problems and cancers - we're off in search of the one spot in the city that usually escapes the smog. And, in the primary schools of France they take poetry very seriously indeed. That can mean a homework nightmare for the children - and for their parents too. PHOTO: People shop at a street market in Luanda on July 3, 2015. (ALAIN JOCARD/AFP/Getty Images)

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