Desert Island discussion, Radio 2 country

Roger Bolton asks if Desert Island Discs allowed itself to become too political when it invited nuclear scientist Dame Sue Ion to be a castaway.

Dame Sue Ion has long been a campaigner for nuclear energy, and some listeners felt that the much loved Radio 4 stalwart Desert Island Discs was the wrong platform for her to talk about that political belief. Editor Rebecca Stratford joins Roger to discuss whether Kirsty Young should have posed stronger challenges to Dame Sue Ion on the subject, and how a programme dedicated to one interviewee can maintain impartiality.

A recent episode of Out of the Ordinary on the subject of so-called "Men Going Their Own Way", who claim to have thrown off the shackles of alleged female oppression, received a large listener response. Presenter Jolyon Jenkins discusses whether he dealt fairly with the men he interviewed.

And why has country music become so popular that Radio 2 has just organised a pop-up station devoted to it? In these times of cutbacks, how can the BBC afford it? Radio 2 controller Bob Shennan speaks to Roger about the future of country music on his network.

Finally, listeners respond to the technical issues raised in last week's programme - one gives Roger a telling off, while another suggests that it's when lines go dead that Radio 4 comes to life.

Producer: Kate Dixon A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4.