Departures

Leaving's the theme of this edition. Bridget Kendall, the BBC's Russia specialist, is hanging up her headphones but not before she talks about secret agents and considers what the past can tell us about that country's future. Past and present are on Kevin Connolly's mind too. He's off to a new BBC posting and points out that within half an hour's walk of his home in Jerusalem some of the defining dramas of the ancient world played themselves out. He also talks of the pleasures and pitfalls of Middle East reporting today. And Gabriel Gatehouse hums the theme tune from 'The Great Escape' while considering departures in his essay about the EU referendum and the Euro2016 football tournament in France