NEURO-SCIENTISTS tell us that our visual sense is pre-eminent in
all our engagements with the physical world, and that hearing is
relatively subservient by comparison. But there are some things
that a radio devotee hears which are powerful and traumatic. On
Men's Hour (Radio 5 Live, Sunday), those of us not able to
turn off our radios fast enough were exposed to the sound of a live
circumcision operation, infant screams and all.
That we could not see what was going on meant that the
soundtrack of pre-verbal discomfort and anxiety was that much more
visceral. No doubt there were soothing presences gathered around
the boy; but all we could hear was isolated agony.
After the ruling by a court in Cologne that declared
circumcision "a violation of physical integrity", and the
subsequent appeal by Angela Merkel for freedom of religious
practice, Radio 5 Live's "men's magazine" programme decided to give
the subject the benefit of its bloke-ish wisdom. The recording -
from a clinic in Luton - provided the required shock factor, while
the dark humour came courtesy of a snippet from the '60s hit "The
first cut is the deepest".
Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner, from the Movement for Reformed
Judaism, called for a non-inflammatory approach to the subject, but
that was not going to stop Glen Poole, from the organisation Men's
Network, from quoting a host of leg-crossing horrors associated
with botched circumcision operations.
Agreement was reached straightaway over the need for proper
supervision and anaesthetic; although if we take the evidence of Mr
Poole, and of callers to the programme, this much easier said than
done.
The more interesting issue of religious freedom versus "physical
integrity" was outside this programme's remit, and will no doubt be
batted over to the philosophers of The Moral Maze.
In this Olympic season, certain types of programming are to be
expected. But an "Olympic special" from a sitcom set in hell?
Old Harry's Game (Radio 4, Thursday of last week), in
which Andy Hamilton plays the Prince of Darkness, had to work hard
to justify the gags; and the biggest laughs came from digs at the
Greeks (taxes and bail-outs). The standard joke for the writers is
to consign a topically dislikeable character to the eternal flame;
and it seemed harsh to have a go at David Starkey rather than some
of the disreputable sportspeople whose behaviour feeds our
papers.
On a higher plain of existence resides the shaman Chocigar
Kes-Kam, the star of Siberian Stories (Radio 4, Wednesday
of last week). In a Russia where shamanism has been legitimated,
Kes-Kam maintains an authenticity that is beguiling. Cicely Fell's
travels through Siberia resulted in encounters with reindeer
herdsmen, Khakassian horsemen, and nomads, and have been documented
in five evocative programmes and a host of online photographs.
But it was Kes-Kam's entranced and entrancing journey through
the forests and across the plains of the spirit world, accompanied
and driven on by the beat of a drum, which was the highlight.
Forget the Olympians: if it's swift traversal of time and space you
are wanting, Kes-Kam is your man.