Sri Lanka, July 6 -- There are few things more revealing in public life than the questions people refuse to answer. A speech can be rehearsed. A photograph can be staged. A rumour can be fed just enough to keep people interested but questions are dangerous because they move power, if only for a moment, away from the person speaking and towards the person asking.

This week on our BBC Radio 4 show, When It Hits the Fan, David Yelland and I looked at three stories about questions, and the different ways powerful people try to manage them. Andy Burnham giving a major political speech without taking questions from journalists. Prince Harry and Meghan once again caught between palace briefings, security concerns and the question of whether a ...