NASA reveals plans for a permanent base on the Moon

Summary

Global News Podcast (BBC World Service) — May 27, 2026
Episode Focus: NASA Reveals Plans for a Permanent Base on the Moon

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Overview

In this episode, the Global News Podcast covers NASA's announcement of a permanent human base on the Moon, discussing its political, economic, and technological implications. The episode transitions into major global stories, including Middle East tensions, cartel arrests in Mexico, separatist movements in Canada, corporate shakeups at BP, a unique Ugandan therapy dog project, and cultural reflections on Ireland’s iconic Tayto crisps.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. NASA’s Lunar Base: Vision, Politics, and the New Space Race

Timeline & Ambitions

• NASA announced procurement of hardware to construct a lunar base, aiming for a semi-permanent human presence by 2032 (01:15–03:16).
• Phase 1 (till 2029): Deployment of robotic landers and drones (notably Blue Origin), tasked with mapping the Moon’s south pole.
• Phase 2: Layout of nuclear and solar energy infrastructure, supporting human habitats (03:20–04:56).

Geopolitical Stakes

• US motivations include both technological supremacy and economic incentives, with rare earth metals, minerals, helium, and water as key targets.
• The lunar program is spearheaded as a "pet project" of President Trump, facing a tight race against China, whose own manned moon landing target is 2030 (03:20–04:56).
• The US is under pressure to demonstrate progress, with political and commercial considerations deeply intertwined (04:56–05:09).

Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Dr. Laurie Glaze (NASA):
  “We are building humanity's first outpost beyond Earth…we are creating a future where exploration is not just an incredible moment in history, but the first foothold beyond Earth for all of humanity.” (02:56)
• David Willis (BBC):
  “President Trump wants to land Americans back on the moon before he leaves office in 2028. NASA is under pressure to at least look like it's winning the new space race. But China is breathing down its neck…” (03:20)

Lunar Property Rights & International Law

• The UN prohibits sovereign claims, but resource access heavily favors first arrivals (“finders keepers”) (06:34–07:10).
• David Willis:
  “The United Nations decreed that nobody can own the Moon. But there is certainly an advantage to those that get there first.” (06:46)

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2. Middle East: Ceasefire Collapse and Shifting Alliances

Israel-Hezbollah Escalation

• Israel intensifies operations in Lebanon, expanding beyond previous ceasefire lines (07:10–07:53).
• Dr. Laurie Glaze (reporting):
  “We’re deepening our operation in Lebanon…fortifying the security zone to protect our northern communities.” (07:39)

Iran’s Role

• Iran conditions peace with the US on ending the Lebanon conflict (07:53–08:09).
• Analyst Lina Hatib:
  “Hezbollah…started explicitly rejecting the ceasefire…Israel is using this as the reason to justify the expansion of its own activities…” (08:09)

Human Cost

• Deadly strikes reported in southern Lebanon; BBC correspondent reports from the ground, detailing civilian trauma (10:08–11:45).

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3. US-Iran Tensions and Prospects for Diplomacy

• US launches strikes on Iranian missile launch sites and naval vessels in self-defense (12:18–13:09).
• Secretary of State Marco Rubio expresses cautious optimism about a deal:
  “It’s either going to be a good deal or there isn’t going to be one.” (12:49)
• Potential agreement terms: 60-day ceasefire extension, Strait of Hormuz reopening, Iran’s nuclear restraint (13:09–13:30).

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4. Mexican Cartels: Arrest of El Chapo’s Nephew

• Isai Martinez Zepada (“El China Catey”), a leader in Sinaloa Cartel’s “Los Chapitos” faction, arrested (13:55–14:46).
• Ongoing US-Mexico cooperation, amid escalating US pressure to curb cartel activity (14:55–15:51).
• Mimi Swaby (BBC):
  "The cartels are incredibly powerful...the figure who has been arrested may be very swiftly replaced by their junior...or more factions occur." (16:02)

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5. Canadian Separatism: Alberta’s Bid for Independence

• Alberta debates possible secession, with links drawn to Trump’s “51st State” comments (18:40–19:09).
• Mark Carney (PM):
  “That is a very dangerous bluff…I saw firsthand what happened in the United Kingdom…” (19:09)
• Mitch Silvestre (Alberta separatist leader):
  “It’s a $47 billion a year one-way street of money exiting Alberta to go to Ottawa…We’re producers, we have everything here…We could put a fence around Alberta and we don’t need anybody else for anything.” (19:57, 22:12)

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6. Corporate Shakeup: BP Chairman Removed

• BP’s Albert Manifold ousted for alleged “bullying and overbearing” behavior, as the company maintains its oil-focused strategy (23:02–24:03).

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7. Uganda’s Comfort Dog Project: Healing with Canines

• Francis Okelo Oloya, blinded in childhood wartime violence, founded the Comfort Dog Project rehabilitating both humans and rescued dogs (24:28–27:17).
• Oloya:
  “I can share with my dog Bailey here. I can tell him what I went through. In a way, I will be releasing the heaviness of the traumatic events. So having a dog as a friend is a medicine in healing trauma.” (26:54)

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8. Culture: Ireland’s Iconic Tayto Crisps

• Food historian Martine Matt Konamura recounts the story and impact of the beloved Irish snack (28:03–29:30).
• Notable pairing: “Guinness and Tayto is the perfect pairing.” (28:39)

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Timestamps for Major Segments

• 01:15 — Main headlines & introduction
• 02:56 — NASA’s vision (Dr. Laurie Glaze)
• 03:20 — Space race context & timeline (David Willis)
• 04:56 — Political and strategic analysis (David Willis & Charlotte Gallagher)
• 06:34 — Lunar property rights issue
• 07:10 — Israel-Hezbollah conflict update
• 08:09 — Analyst Lina Hatib on Hezbollah and Iran
• 10:08 — John Sudworth's on-the-ground report from Lebanon
• 12:18 — US-Iran crisis (Sarah Smith)
• 13:55 — Arrest of El Chapo’s nephew (Mimi Swaby)
• 16:02 — Cartels’ enduring dominance
• 18:40 — Alberta’s independence debate
• 19:09 — Mark Carney warns on separatism
• 19:57 — Interview with Mitch Silvestre
• 23:02 — BP chairman sacked (Simon Jack)
• 24:28 — Uganda's Comfort Dog Project story
• 28:03 — Tayto crisps in Irish culture

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Notable Quotes

• Dr. Laurie Glaze (NASA):
  "We are building humanity's first outpost beyond Earth...we are creating a future where exploration is not just an incredible moment in history, but the first foothold beyond Earth for all of humanity." (02:56)

• David Willis (BBC):
  "President Trump wants to land Americans back on the moon before he leaves office in 2028. NASA is under pressure to at least look like it's winning the new space race." (03:20)

• Lina Hatib (Chatham House):
  “Hezbollah...explicitly rejecting the ceasefire...Israel is using this as the reason to justify the expansion of its own activities.” (08:09)

• Mitch Silvestre (Alberta separatist):
  "We have all those things now...We could put a fence around Alberta and we don't need anybody else for anything." (21:53–22:12)

• Francis Okelo Oloya (Uganda):
  “Having a dog as a friend is a medicine in healing trauma.” (26:54)

• Martine Matt Konamura (Food historian):
  “Guinness and Tayto is the perfect pairing.” (28:39)

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Episode Tone & Style

• Authoritative, factual, and journalistic throughout.
• Integrates both expert analysis and personal stories for a global view of current events.
• Balanced, measured, and attentive to the complexity behind headline news.

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Conclusion

This episode delivers an in-depth update on NASA’s ambitious lunar plans and the multifaceted global dynamics at play—from geopolitical struggles over lunar resources to ongoing tensions in the Middle East, organized crime in Mexico, regional separatism in Canada, and resonant stories of healing and cultural pride. Punctuated by skilled reporting and engaging interviews, it remains a snapshot of a world in flux and ambition.

Transcript

[Host/Presenter]

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK.

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[Charlotte Gallagher]

This is the Global News Podcast from the BBC World Service. I'm Charlotte Gallagher and in the early hours of 27 May, these are our main stories. Stories the US starts ordering hardware to build a long term base for humans on the moon as fighting between Hezbollah and Israel continues, we hear why the so called ceasefire isn't working. The latest on a possible peace deal between Iran and the US 24 hours after Washington launched airstrikes against the country and as the nephew of the drug lord El Chapo is arrested, how much of a grip do the cartels still have on Mexic? Also in this podcast, we're producers.

[Mitch Silvestre]

We have everything here. We have all manner of natural resources, we have clean water, we have agriculture. We could put a fence around Alberta. We don't need anybody else for anything.

[Charlotte Gallagher]

Could a breakaway province in Canada help Donald Trump's 51st state ambitions? It's been less than two months since the world watched as NASA's Artemis 2 mission marked a return to the moon with a flyby.

[Mitch Silvestre]

We just realized that we have Earth out window four and Moon out window three. The moon is about three to four times the size of the Earth than

[Charlotte Gallagher]

it is and now the US Space Agency says it's ordering parts for a sprawling base on the lunar surface with plans for a long term site for humans by 2032. Dr. Laurie Glaze is from NASA.

[Dr. Laurie Glaze]

We are building humanity's first outpost beyond Earth through Artemis we are going and with Moon base we're going to stay and together NASA Industry and international partners. We are creating a future where exploration is not just an incredible moment in history, but the first foothold beyond Earth for all of humanity.

[Charlotte Gallagher]

Our North America correspondent, David Willis has been following developments.

[David Willis]

President Trump wants to land Americans back on the moon before he leaves office in 2028. NASA is under pressure to at least look like it's winning the new space race. But China is breathing down its neck, of course, and it's forging ahead with plans to land human beings on the moon by the year 2030. And despite the US success in sending four astronauts around the Moon in the Artemis 2 mission last month, there are many experts who believe that NASA's timetable is ambitious, to say the very least, and that China will be the next country to actually land humans on the moon's surface. Well, today NASA announced further details of a $20 billion plan to establish a permanent base at the south pole of the moon by 2032. The initial phase being the development of robotic landers and hopping drones by companies such as Jeff Bezos Blue Origin Space Company thereby to explore and map the terrain of the mo moon before human beings actually travel there. And that discovery phase of the program is expected to last, we're told, until 2029, and will pave the way for the creation of nuclear and solar powered facilities on the moon so that by 2032, everything will be in place to allow human beings to live there in sort of semi permanent housing.

[Charlotte Gallagher]

As you said there, this is Donald Trump's pet project. He wants this, but I guess once he's gone from office, the next administration might say it's a waste of money. We shouldn't be prioritizing this.

[David Willis]

Well, you're right. This is very much Donald Trump's baby. He's been driving NASA's pivot towards an accelerated lunar program, largely in an effort to beat China to the pole position, to showcase US Technological superiority, if you like. The Artemis program has taken years of work, is estimated to have cost close to $100 billion so far. But aside from Donald Trump's political investment in all this, it could yield considerable economic benefit for the United States should the US Be the first nation to plant a permanent flag there. The Moon, we know, contains rare earth elements, which are scarce on Earth. There are metals such as iron and titanium, as well as helium, not to mention water, which of course is vital if you're going to set up permanent base there. But gaining access to the areas with the most abundant resources means securing the best lunar real estate, and that means establishing an early bridgehead and there's a general feeling here that any future U.S. administration would be unlikely to turn its back on a potential return on the billions of dollars that have already been spent, especially in the light of the potential scientific benefits that all this could yield for the world in general.

[Charlotte Gallagher]

But some people might be listening to this and thinking, but how can anyone claim part of the Moon? Surely it belongs to everyone. So is it finders keepers? Who gets there first, gets the resources?

[David Willis]

Pretty much. The United nations decreed that nobody can own the Moon. But there is certainly an advantage to those that get there first, who establish that bridgehead because of the plentiful elements, rare earth elements, and other things there that are known to be accessible to have a basically plant their flag first.

[Charlotte Gallagher]

That was David Willis. Israel has expanded its operations in Lebanon with an intensive wave of strikes in the south and east. The IDF has told residents of vast southern communities to leave amid reports soldiers are advancing past land they've occupied since the truce was agreed last month. It comes after Israel's Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu said he'd given the instruction to press the pedal even harder in targeting Hezbollah.

[Marco Rubio]

Under my direction and that of the

[Dr. Laurie Glaze]

defense minister, together with the chief of

[Marco Rubio]

staff, we're deepening our operation in Lebanon. The IDF is operating with large forces on the ground and seizing controlled areas. We're fortifying the security zone to protect our northern communities.

[Charlotte Gallagher]

Iran, though, has demanded that any peace deal with the United States must include an end to the war in Lebanon between Israel and Hezbollah. Lena Hatib is an associate fellow at the Middle east and North Africa Program at the Chatham House think tank.

[Lena Hatib]

Hezbollah, nominally in the beginning accepted the ceasefire, but very quickly started undermining the Lebanese government, saying that its talks with Israel were against the national interest. And it went as far as call for the overthrow of the Lebanese government a few days ago. And in the course of this, Hezbollah started explicitly rejecting the ceasefire. So the ceasefire can be seen as a political agreement between the Lebanese government and Israel brokered by the us Whereas Hezbollah is rejecting this and not abiding by the instructions of the Lebanese government and effectively is being a rogue actor. And Israel is using this as the reason to justify the expansion of its own activities in Lebanon. Because Hezbollah keeps striking Israel and Hezbollah keeps striking it, because Iran is instructing Hezbollah to do so. Because Iran basically wants Lebanon to be part of the bigger negotiation with the US and not become a separate file. But the US and the Lebanese government and Israel, the three of them are determined that the Lebanese file should be separate and that's why Iran does not want the Lebanon Israel ceasefire to basically succeed. Because the only way for a ceasefire to happen as far as Iran is concerned, is if Iran brokers that ceasefire on behalf of Lebanon. So here we really are seeing Lebanon being caught in the middle between Iran and Israel, both of them pursuing, you know, their own interests.

[Charlotte Gallagher]

Meanwhile, the Lebanese Health Ministry has said that recent Israeli strikes have killed at least 31 people in southern Lebanon, four of them children. Our correspondent John Sudworth has spent the day in the village of Mashkara in eastern Lebanon, where The authorities say 12 people were killed in Israeli strikes overnight.

[John Sudworth]

Rescue crews are frantically digging through the rubble as two tiny arms poke through a hole they've made. Caked in dirt and dust, Seven year old Muhammad is eventually pulled to safety. The strike attacks here were part of a wave of intensifying Israeli action ordered in response to the increasingly deadly use of new fiber optic drones by Hezbollah, the Iranian backed militant group in Lebanon. The two sides returned to war after Hezbollah fired rockets across the border in early March in support of Iran. As we speak to a village official in Mashgara, it's an Israeli drone that circles overhead. He's telling us that although he's not a member of Hezbollah, he does support their cause when he's interrupted by the sound of incoming jets. Social media videos show a large explosion on a road not far from where we're filming. Tell me, Mohammed, how old are you?

[Interviewee (Robert or Mohammed)]

Seven.

[John Sudworth]

Seven? You speak some English. Later, we meet Mohammed, the little boy pulled from the rubble. Now recovering in hospital with his head bandaged. He's not yet been told that his father and two sisters were killed in the strike. And he's in remarkably good spirits. Who do you think did this to you? There are plenty of Lebanese who despise Hezbollah, who blame it for dragging this country into war. But there's also little support for Israel. Deep anger over the growing number of civilian deaths and no easy answers as this country once again finds itself in a spiral of violence.

[Charlotte Gallagher]

That was John Sudworth. Iran's Foreign Ministry has warned the country will not leave evil unanswered and accused the US of a gross violation of the ceasefire. The comments came after Washington carried out strikes in southern Iran overnight. In spite of that, the US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio said a deal between the two sides was still possible and suggested progress could be made in talks between Iranian negotiators and the Prime Minister of Qatar. Here's our North America editor, Sarah. Sarah Smith.

[Sarah Smith]

The ceasefire between the US and Iran has become even more Fragile. American commanders said they attacked missile launch sites and boats attempting to lay mines in the Strait of Hormuz in an act of self defense. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard said they had a legitimate right to retaliate against what they considered a breach of the truce and claimed they had shot down a US Drone. However, talks are continuing and US Officials say an agreement of some kind is still possible. The Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, on a visit to India, said President Trump was making progress.

[Marco Rubio]

President had a very important, I think, historic call just a couple days ago with a number of leaders from the region. I think there's strong agreement on what a preliminary draft should look like and it's going to take a couple days to settle on even disagreements over a word sentence, so we'll have to work through that. But it's either going to be a good deal or there isn't going to be one.

[Sarah Smith]

Reportedly, an agreement would include a 60 day extension of the current ceasefire and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. The US Also wants Iran to promise not to develop nuclear weapons and to dispose of its stockpile of highly enriched uranium. Tehran has not yet agreed to all the terms and Iranian officials have publicly pushed back against the claims that a deal is imminent.

[Charlotte Gallagher]

Sarah Smith, the nephew of the notorious Mexican drug cartel boss El Chapo has been arrested in Mexico. Isai Martinez Zapada, who's wanted by the United States, is alleged to work for a faction of the Sinaloa drugs cartel. A haul of cocaine, guns and grenades was seized in the operation. Our global affairs reporter, Mimi Swaby told me more about him.

[Mimi Swaby]

He is widely known as El China Catey, but his actual name is Isai Martinez Zepada. Now, this man is supposedly not just the nephew of a former drug pin and the former boss of a really powerful cartel, the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico. But he's also supposedly wanted by the US for crimes including drug trafficking, weapons trafficking, and is supposedly the presumed logistics operator for a faction of the Sinaloa cartel called Los Chapitos. Now, lots of Mexican reports have gone on to say that it's thought that he was actually in charge of the production and distribution of synthetic drugs to both the US And Costa Rica. But it's drugs to the US that has caused this kind of wanted label across his head from Washington. And that is why the Mexican government have gone after him.

[Charlotte Gallagher]

Specifically, he's been arrested in Mexico and Mexican officials have arrested him. But how much involvement will the US have in this?

[Mimi Swaby]

Washington has for a long time now been pressuring Mexico City, saying you need to do more. Cartels are running wild. They are disputing and supplying the US with narcotics as we've never seen before, and have put the Mexican government under increasing pressure, be that through threats of tariffs or other means. But Mexico has said they are doing enough and it is a joint effort because President Claudia Sheinbaum, especially ahead of the FIFA World cup, which is only a couple of weeks away now has saying she's actually doing more. And then we've seen that with multiple arrests in the last few weeks, the last few months of these kind of key priority figures. And that is something that Mexican officials have also said. They've come out and said these kind of priority targets, as they've called them, are fundamental in dismantling and weakening these very large crime groups, these drug trafficking cartels. But there is a lot of pressure coming from Washington and increasingly so.

[Charlotte Gallagher]

And how dominant are the cartels still in Mexico? And when someone like this is arrested, do they have a replacement waiting in the wings to take over straight away?

[Mimi Swaby]

The cartels are incredibly powerful. Sinaloa cartel was headed by El Chapo. He is serving a life sentence in a maximum security prison in Colorado in the US for drug trafficking and money laundering. Two of his sons are also in prison in the US through for narco trafficking charges. But they've all been replaced and been replaced quite swiftly. We do see factions in kind of break off. So Los Chapitos is a kind of smaller part of the wider Sinaloa cartel. The figure who has been arrested may be very swiftly replaced by their junior. They're kind of next in rank or it would just mean that more factions occur and this group can separate and kind of develop and transform to survive and adapt to the next generation of cartel members.

[Charlotte Gallagher]

That was Mimi Swaby. Still to come in this podcast we look at the therapy dogs helping the surviv of a notorious Ugandan warlord.

[Francis Okelo Oloya]

Many of them were rejected, stigmatized. So because of limited mental health care services, I realized that dogs could step in.

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[Charlotte Gallagher]

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[Charlotte Gallagher]

This is the global news podcast. The western Canadian province of Alberta floating the idea of becoming independent has been sparking fierce debate over whether the oil rich, politically conservative regions splitting off would be a step towards Donald Trump's threat to make Canada the 51st state of America. Prime Minister Mark Carney led the bank of England during Brexit and has been issuing warnings to separatists from Canada's capital, Ottawa.

[Marco Rubio]

In these separation issues, it is often advanced that vote for this and it's a free option. Vote for this and we will strengthen your our hand in future negotiations. That is a very dangerous bluff. That is a very dangerous bluff. I saw firsthand what happened in the United Kingdom when the view was vote for this, it will be soft and then we'll negotiate, etc. And they end up, and they're still 10 years later trying to undo what people didn't think they were voting for but what they ended up having a

[Charlotte Gallagher]

vote is planned at this stage more of a should we consider it rather than should we leave or not. But the leader of Alberta's main separatist group, Mitch Silvestre, has been challenging that and trying to force through a clear independence question on ballots. He's been speaking to James kumarisami.

[Mitch Silvestre]

It's a $47 billion a year one way street of money exiting Alberta to go to Ottawa. And Ottawa is actively sabotaging our industry. And here's just an example of that. They did major projects all across the country knowing full well that Alberta was not happy and didn't put a major project in Alberta.

[Host/Presenter]

But it does seem quite a, I mean it's quite a obviously a drastic radical step to actually separate from Canada. And is there a plan? Will you join with the United States, for example? Would you be a separate country?

[Mitch Silvestre]

Yeah, no, we're not going to join with the US not even a conversation. It would be a Country, yes.

[Host/Presenter]

With its own everything. Military, its own currency. Its own, certainly. Yeah.

[Mitch Silvestre]

I don't know about its own currency yet. I think since we trade, 88% of our trade goes south to the US so. And that's from Alberta. I'm talking about and understand Alberta produces about 85% of Canada's oil.

[Host/Presenter]

Well, I wonder what you make of Mr. Carney's comments comparing what might happen in Alberta to what has happened in the United Kingdom and saying that this is his quote, they're still 10 years later, that is Britain trying to undo what people didn't think they were voting for, but what they ended up having. That is that there were simple solutions, he argues, proposed during the Brexit referendum. And things have turned out to be rather more complex than was said by supporters of Brexit.

[Mitch Silvestre]

Well, I know very little about Brexit. What I do know is where I am in Alberta, and Alberta is considerably different than Britain.

[John Sudworth]

It is.

[Host/Presenter]

But maybe this the general point he's making, which is that you, he's saying, are proposing simple solutions to what are actually complex problems, that the simple solution of breaking away and being independent actually will turn out to be far more complex than you are telling people.

[Mitch Silvestre]

I don't believe that. No.

[Host/Presenter]

Whatever happens to, you know, having your own military, having a separate legal system, all these things will be complex, won't they? They will not be straightforward. Or do you think they will be straightforward?

[Mitch Silvestre]

Well, we have all those things now.

[Host/Presenter]

But those are Canadian things, aren't they?

[Mitch Silvestre]

You have to understand how big Canada is. Like, if you put a pin in London and went from, say, and put a pin in Ottawa and went to Edmonton, you'd go across nine countries in Europe. We are not the same as the people that rule us in the East. And the other thing that people have to understand is that very much different than Britain. We're producers, we have everything here. We have all manner of natural resources, we have clean water, we have agriculture. We could put a fence around Alberta and we don't need anybody else for anything.

[Charlotte Gallagher]

Mitch Silvestre. The oil giant BP has surprised everyone by suddenly removing its chairman, citing what the board called serious concerns over his conduct. Albert Manifold has worked for the company for less than a year. And it's not BP's first boardroom drama. Here's our business editor, Simon Jack.

[Host/Presenter]

The BBC understands that concerns over Albert Manifold included behavior described by one source as bullying and overbearing. A second source agreed with that description and added that dismissing him was, in their words, a big lever to pull you wouldn't do it unless it was serious. BP declined to comment on allegations of bullying, but said in a statement it had been surprised and disappointed to learn of governance, oversight and conduct issues it deemed unacceptable. Mr. Manifold took over as chairman in October last year and oversaw the hiring of a new CEO, American Meg o', Neill, with a plan to refocus the company on oil and gas and away from investments in renewables. The board of BP confirmed the decision to remove Mr. Manifold was unanimous, but stressed there was no change in the company's new strategic direction. His removal comes after BP reported a doubling in profit following a surge in oil prices since the beginning of the Iran war. Shares fell over 5% today by the close of trading. The BBC has attempted to contact Mr. Manifold for comment.

[Charlotte Gallagher]

That was Simon Jack. Therapy dogs are often used to help people with mental health struggles. And in northern Uganda, there's an unusual project helping those who suffered trauma as a result of the violent insurgency that took place there. It takes rescued street dogs and trains them as therapy dogs to help survivors. Myra Anubi sent this report.

[Interviewee (Robert or Mohammed)]

On a patch of grass, a small group of men and women are training their dogs.

[Francis Okelo Oloya]

Sit. Watch me. Handshake.

[Interviewee (Robert or Mohammed)]

Despite this gentle scene, there's a darker history here. All these people have suffered some sort of trauma. Around 20 years ago, this region was torn apart by conflict. The Lord's Resistance army, led by the warlord Joseph Kony, carried out rape, murder and mutilation.

[Francis Okelo Oloya]

Majority of the people in northern Uganda were heavily affected psychologically.

[Interviewee (Robert or Mohammed)]

Francis Okelo Oloya was one victim. Blinded by a bomb blast when he

[Francis Okelo Oloya]

was a child, coping with life was not easy. I became actually very bitter about myself and I lost hope.

[Interviewee (Robert or Mohammed)]

But he found hope in an unexpected way through companionship with dogs. And after studying psychology, he realized that dogs could help other war trauma survivors.

[Francis Okelo Oloya]

Many of them were rejected, stigmatized. So because of limited mental health care services, I realized that dogs could step in to fill the gap. Down, lay down.

[Interviewee (Robert or Mohammed)]

So with the charity the Big Fix Uganda, he set up the Comfort Dog Project, which takes in street dogs, often unloved and mistreated, and retrains them to become therapy dogs for your good God. Robert is a trauma survivor who now looks after one of these dogs. He was abducted from his village by the Lord's Resistance army when he was just a teenager and forced to fight and kill for them.

[Francis Okelo Oloya]

They came in one night, then they took me when I'm sleeping inside my father's house. So from there I spent four to five years in the bus.

[Interviewee (Robert or Mohammed)]

And was it Easy for you to talk to people about what you had gone through.

[Francis Okelo Oloya]

Yeah, it wasn't easy because you don't trust anybody. So we keep our secret and we keep silence.

[Interviewee (Robert or Mohammed)]

Yes, the Comfort Dog Project has Now helped over 120 trauma victims like Robert. But what makes these dogs so special? Here's Francis again.

[Francis Okelo Oloya]

I can share with my dog Bailey here. I can tell him what I went through. In a way. I will be releasing the heaviness of the traumatic events. So having a dog as a friend is a medicine in healing trauma.

[Charlotte Gallagher]

Myra, a newbie. Finally.

[Mitch Silvestre]

Potato attack. Potato attack.

[Charlotte Gallagher]

A 1989 ad for Tato Crazy Crisps, the Irish crisps with the popular marketing slogan the true taste of home. Tato crisps are exported to more than 40 countries, but in England, they haven't had a huge presence outside of Irish pubs and Irish sections in supermarkets until recently. Now they're often listed in the Top Things about Ireland alongside Guinness, the poet Seamus Heaney, and of course, the crack. So why do people love tatoes so much? Martine Matt Konamura is an Irish food histor, historian and author.

[Martine Matt Konamura]

Seamus Heaney's most famous poem was about peeling potatoes while everyone else went to mass. It's a serious part of our sort of culture, our culinary culture. It was a fella called Joe Spud Murphy who invented Tayto back in 1954 and Moore street in Dublin. And he was the first guy actually to invent a flavored crisp as well, with the cheese and onion. And then later on he developed the salt and vinegar and put it. But the whole thing is suppose the same way you have your vacuum cleaner is known as a hoover. Crisps in Ireland are just known as tatoes because that's how sort of eponymous

[Host/Presenter]

they are and they go rather well with a certain drink.

[Martine Matt Konamura]

Yeah, I had a Dutch expert over on sort of food and drink pairings a few years ago, and one of my colleagues in the audience asked, listen, what would go really well with tatoes? And he says the best thing for tatoes, he would say, would be a pint of Guinness. And the reason for that was actually the nitrogen bubbles in it. Seemingly Guinness and Tayto is the perfect pairing.

[Host/Presenter]

There are different Tayto's north and south of the border, though, aren't there?

[Martine Matt Konamura]

Yes, I suppose a bit like everything in Ireland, there's always some form of division, you know. So actually, two years after Joe Spud Murphy invented, you know, started the company, he sort of franchised a version of it to a northern company. They. They do taste different, you know, and I think they're probably the, the ones that are making most impact in London. But there are also the southern, you could say the Republic or the southern version, which, which I, I actually prefer myself, you know, as a coloured Miyaker.

[Charlotte Gallagher]

You can't be a bag of tatoes. That was Martine Matt Konamura. And that's all from us for now. If you want to get in touch, you can email us at globalpodcastbc.co.uk. you can also find us on XBCWorldService. Use the hashtag globalnewspod. Don't forget our sister podcast, the Global Story. This edition of of the Global News podcast was mixed by Holly Smith and the producer was Guy Pitt. The editor is Karen Martin. I'm Charlotte Gallagher. Until next time. Goodbye.

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