Analysis Radio 4, 9:30 to 9.59pm
The modern state has traditionally been defined by its monopoly of lawful violence. Is this being eroded in Britain and elsewhere, as private security firms take over work from the police and the prison service? And why is Government moving into new areas of control, such as smacking of children? Andrew Brown asks where the balance of legitimate force lies and how it is shifting.
16 August
News: The Square Meal Radio 4, 9 to 9.30am
Roger Bolton visits his old primary school in Cumbria and finds out how the lunchtime menu has changed from when he was there 40 years ago. He also investigates whether children's nutrition is any better now than when the first publicly-funded school dinners were introduced nearly a century ago.
17 August
That'll teach 'em Channel4, 9pm to 10pm
Thirty 16-year-olds, having just finished their GCSEs, travel back in time for a month of intensive tuition with the emphasis on vocational skills.
The first in a five-part series features the children's arrival at a secondary modern school of the 1960s. As they bid an emotional farewell to their parents the teenagers begin to realise what they have let themselves in for. The programme aims to discover if a group of modern-day teenagers who aren't academic high fliers would benefit from the practical skills that used to be taught in the state education system. While the girls learn the skills needed to run a good home, the boys learn how to build one. Will the children pick up some useful skills that their modern education has failed to equip them with or will the joys of the dovetail joint and the cross-stitch pass them by?
18 August
Boys with Breasts Channel 4, 9 to 10pm
Gynaecomastia, an over-development of male breast tissue, can affect up to a third of the male population, and though it is often barely visible, in severe cases breasts can expand to reach DD cup. This documentary reveals the medical causes and psychological impact of this surprisingly widely experienced medical condition.
20 August
Rule the School BBC2, 4.55pm to 5.20pm
Jake Humphrey presents a documentary series in which six children take on the roles of teachers and attempt to educate their elders in the finer points of teenage sub-culture.
20 August
Playing Safe BBC2, 5.30am
Looking at a number of initiatives in Wales, designed to reduce the number of childhood accidents.
