Turkey in the fridge, a goat under the tree

RadioReview: Attempting to jam a large turkey into an already overstuffed fridge on Christmas Eve was trying enough without a discussion of 1916 executions playing in the background, followed (it said in the listings - I didn't stay tuned) by a discussion on the Battle of the Somme.

What sort of Grinch-like carry-on came over the normally reliable This Week (RTÉ Radio 1, Sunday) team that they figured a run-down on a couple of bloodbaths would fit in with anyone's festive mood? Ripe for a bit of psychoanalysis, that one.

At least John Kelly had a firm grip on the festive spirit - Lyric was my default station this week, with the JK Ensemble (daily) a particular highlight. On Christmas Day, his brilliantly eclectic upbeat playlist sidestepped the usual radio plays - shouldn't there be a limit on the number of times it's reasonable to play Chris Rea's Driving Home for Christmas - in favour of a mix of much more interesting material. So Billy May's Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer Mambo and Louis Armstrong's Zat You, Santa Claus shared a programme with seasonal staples such as This is the Truth from Sent Above and Go Tell it on the Mountain.

One of the most inspired and successful marketing initiatives in recent years has come from an unexpected sector - charities. In many Irish households there was a goat, a cow or even a hive of bees under the tree - or at least the promise of one being given in the recipient's name to an impoverished African family. On the face of it, livestock aid looks like a win-win situation. Consciences on one consumer-bloated continent are salved by giving practical aid to families on another, desperately poor one. It's raised millions in aid in a world where two billion households live on less than $2 a day.

But in the run-up to Christmas at least one British charity, Animal Aid, was vocal in its opposition to such schemes, claiming that giving livestock in Africa can, among other problems, speed up desertification - with goats being the No 1 culprits because they further degrade already poor land by eating the last remaining greenery. Together with the World Land Trust, Animal Aid believes direct support in the growing of food would be more beneficial. So Hermione Coburn's Gift of a Goat (BBC Radio 4, Sunday) was a timely listen. British charities have been active for years in the livestock aid sector and she visited Uganda and talked to one woman whose economic circumstances have improved dramatically through the arrival of a goat.

Development aid experts reported, however, that livestock-giving can be a problem - not least in terms of burdening a family instead of helping them when it's not done properly. Some (unnamed) charities with little experience in the area have cottoned on to the aid potential of such schemes and that's what's causing the problems.

Livestock aid works only when it's part of a long-term project - up to 15 years - that involves supplying the know-how to look after the animal, and choosing the right breed, and the right family to give it to. The cute image of instant gratification (for giver and recipient) that is so cleverly marketed is no use. The advice was to ask hard questions of the charities before buying into them.

Writer Anthony Cronin got the national treasure treatment with a four-hour interview spread over four nights (Cronin, RTÉ Radio 1) and, for the most part, it was an interesting listen - though there were frustratingly large biographical gaps. The personal was not probed (apart from his very early years), rather this was a discussion about ideas, Irish cultural history and literature. Cronin, sounding philosophical and vital, is now known more for his position in Ireland's cultural life than his own work and he talked to Tom McGurk about his relationships with, among others, Patrick Kavanagh, Samuel Beckett and Brendan Behan, and about his time as a cultural adviser to Charles Haughey. He believes his closeness to the disgraced taoiseach has tarnished his own "aura". "I suffered in literary reputation to some extent, and I probably suffered in other ways but you have to put up with these things," he said.

First World War history lessons aside, bah humbug moment of the week was tuning in, with great anticipation, to BBC Radio 2, which has bought the transmission rights to Bob Dylan's Theme Time Radio Hour. The critically acclaimed show broadcast on the US-based satellite XM radio station features Dylan as DJ. It was on every evening this week in advance of a weekly Friday-night broadcast from January. But so much for the all-powerful web - it's only available to listeners in the UK.