BBC OS Conversations: Dealing with trauma after vehicle-ramming attacks

Loading player...

Over the past decade, cars and trucks have been used as lethal weapons in an increasing number of attacks. Fourteen people died and at least 35 were injured when a driver of a pickup truck targeted crowds in New Orleans on New Year’s Day. Less than a month earlier, a nine-year-old child and five adults were killed in a similar incident in the eastern German city of Magdeburg where a car was driven through a crowded Christmas market. Kathy was dancing in a Christmas parade in the town of Waukesha in the US state of Wisconsin in 2021 when a car rammed into the performers, killing six people and injuring dozens more. Donna was watching the parade: “I remember it like it was yesterday,” she tells host Mark Lowen. Donna and Kathy are joined by Astrid in Germany, whose father was killed in a 2016 attack on a Christmas market in Berlin.

10 Jan 7PM English United Kingdom Education

Other recent episodes

BBC OS Conversations: Living through the Los Angeles fires

Vast areas of Los Angeles have been destroyed since these fires began on 7 January. Thousands of homes and businesses have been lost, and tens of thousands of people have been forced to evacuate. We hear from Kelly, who had just minutes to gather a few possessions before her home…

17 Jan 7PM 25 min

Heart and Soul: Kaddish - why we pray for the dead

Elie Wiesel, Nobel Prize winner and Holocaust survivor, once told Michael Goldfarb of people going to their deaths at Auschwitz asking who will say Kaddish for me? Kaddish is the Jewish prayer for the dead. On the 80th anniversary of Auschwitz' liberation Michael Goldfarb explores the origins and meaning of…

16 Jan 7PM 28 min

Solutions Journalism: Prison of the mind

Around the world, prison populations are bursting at the seams, but in some European countries, they are closing and reoffending rates are down. The trend has been attributed to a novel approach to justice, one that places the mental health of offenders at its heart. Forensic psychologist Dr Jenny Okolo…

15 Jan 7AM 26 min

BBC Trending: The chatbot bridging an aid gap

A mechanical engineer by day, Hania Zataari felt compelled to put her skills to use as the war intensified in Lebanon. Hailing from the south, one of the worst hit areas in the country, she has created a chatbot on WhatsApp that simplifies access to much-needed aid. BBC Trending follows…

14 Jan 7PM 22 min

Assignment: The Gambia - when migrants are forced to go home

Each year young people from the tiny West African nation of The Gambia try to reach Europe through “The Backway” - a costly, perilous journey over land and sea.Many do not make it. In recent years, the EU has done deals with several North African nations to clamp down on…

13 Jan 7PM 29 min

All episodes