About this podcast
Leading thinkers discuss the ideas shaping our lives - looking back at the news and making links between past and present. Fridays at 9pm on BBC Radio 4. Presented by Matthew Sweet, Shahidha Bari and Anne McElvoy.
Episodes
The newest 50 of 1,529 episodes
- What's So Good About Democracy? · 57 minIs democracy in crisis? From anarchic social media to the rise of authoritarianism, Mathew Sweet and guests give our political system a full MOT, from the basics of democratic…
- Bread · 57 minThe 'bread of life', your 'bread and butter', bread riots and 'let them eat cake', gentrification and bakeries: Shahidha Bari hosts the round-table discussion programme about…
- Reading Against the Grain · 57 minWhat is left unsaid and who is missing from historical archives? Reading against the grain is a way of thinking about these questions and in the week when Woman's Hour marks 80…
- The Example of St Francis · 57 minHe renounced his fortune and lived amongst animals so does the example of St Francis help us think about issues like the wealth gap and our relationship with the environment and…
- Intellectuals · 57 minWhat is the role of intellectuals in public life? Matthew Sweet hosts Radio 4's Friday night round table discussion programme about ideas. His guests are: Emile Chabal, author of…
- The Ethics of Knowledge · 57 minDo we have a responsibility to inform ourselves about the state of the world? Is the experience of some people valued more highly than that of others? Matthew Sweet investigates…
- Trade and Traffic · 57 minWhat does trade set in motion beyond the exchange of goods? Anne McElvoy explores the movement of commerce across time as a carrier of habits, ideas, ambitions and influence, as…
- The Child's Eye View · 56 minShahidha Bari investigates the child’s-eye view of the world. From navigating AI to living through war and the joys of reading, what makes children’s perspectives so distinctive?…
- Eccentrics & Outsiders · 57 minHow has the figure of the outsider or eccentric been used to explore English culture, history, politics, and our relationship with nature and the countryside? Matthew Sweet…
- Satire and Gulliver's Travels · 57 min300 years after the publication of Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, Matthew Sweet looks at satire, past and present. How can satirists reflect critically and humorously on…
- Wealth · 57 minAnne McElvoy and guests discuss the concentration, distribution and morality of wealth now and look back at An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations…
- Free Thinking at the Hay Festival: Responsibility · 57 minFreedom is one of the leading values of our society. But with freedom comes responsibility, which is a much more contested principle. Deciding where responsibility lies, and what…
- Thinking with Food · 57 minThe links between food and philosophy, ideas about experimentation, taste and how food and traditions become part of our identity are explored by Matthew Sweet in Radio 4's…
- Technologies of the Self · 57 min‘Technologies of the self’ is a phrase from the French philosopher Michel Foucault to describe things people might do to shape the people they are, like dieting, exercise…
- The Middle · 57 minFrom taking the middle ground to the mid-life crisis, Middle England to middle managers, to being a middle child - is occupying a position in the middle out of fashion? Anne…
- Weapons, Real and Symbolic · 56 minHow do weapons exert real and symbolic power, both now and in history? Joining Matthew Sweet for Radio 4's roundtable discussion programme about ideas are: The former soldier and…
- Purity · 57 minFrom spiritual cleanliness to purity spirals: Matthew Sweet is joined by guests including David Aaronovitch; Catherine Coldstream, author of Cloistered – My Years as a Nun; Linda…
- Humility · 57 minFrom Spinoza's thinking and the approach of different religions to the Dickens' character Uriah Heep and the "humble brag" - in Radio 4's late night ideas discussion programme…
- Oral Tradition and Oracy · 57 minOracy - the ability to express oneself fluently - has been included in plans to modernise the national curriculum, with a new focus on equipping young people with the skills they…
- Taste · 57 min'It's all in the best possible taste'. But what does it mean to have good taste? And does pursuing good taste lead to favouring style over substance? Who are the thinkers who…
- Women, Language and Experience · 57 minIn a special programme looking ahead to International Women’s Day on March 8th, Shahidha Bari looks at how women express themselves in language, argument, poetry and art. Her…
- Authority · 57 minIs authority a justly unfashionable quality that we should consign to the past? Or does it still have a place in political and business leadership, schools, medical settings and…
- Crime and Punishment: Medieval to Modern · 57 minHow have attitudes to punishment changed over time, and what ideas about the rationale for punishment are circulating today? In Radio 4's roundtable discussion programme, Matthew…
- Working Class Creativity · 57 minFrom an impoverished neighbourhood in South London, Charlie Chaplin became one of the most significant figures in the development of cinema. More recently, TV writers like Sophie…
- Is Might Right? · 57 min'The strong do what they will, the weak suffer what they must'. So claimed the powerful Athenians, according to the Ancient Greek historian Thucydides. Plato tried to demonstrate…
- Labour, Work and Productivity · 57 minWhat do we mean when we talk about productivity? Anne McElvoy and guests discuss labour in the context of both work and motherhood: what the language of childbirth tells us about…
- Double Lives · 57 minFrom undercover field operatives to online anonymity, via lives led in the closet and large scale infidelity, Matthew Sweet discusses the what can prompt people to lead double…
- Victorian Values · 57 minWhat does the phrase 'Victorian values' conjure today? In Radio 4's round-table ideas discussion programme, Matthew Sweet and guests explore what we have inherited from that…
- Innovation · 57 minAre we addicted to novelty? What are the cultural settings that allow innovation to flourish? And are novelty and innovation things we've always valued? Matthew Sweet is joined…
- Travel · 57 minAre you planning your summer holiday? The first Saturday in January is called Sunshine Saturday because typically more holidays are booked on that day than on any other in the…
- Idleness · 57 minIs idleness ever a virtue? In a world that seems to privilege utility and productivity above all else, Matthew Sweet considers whether we can rethink the importance of doing…
- Influencing History · 57 minDo individuals or broader forces shape history? In the 2025 Reith lectures on BBC Radio 4, Rutger Bregman argues that small groups of individuals can have an outsize influence…
- Marriage · 57 minWhy marry? Jane Austen began her novel Pride and Prejudice with the observation "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must…
- Rocks · 57 minRocks have shaped the fates of civilizations and the study of geology has transformed our intellectual landscape. In the 19th century developments in earth sciences led to the…
- Revenge and Reconciliation · 57 minWhat function do ceremonies like Armistice Day perform? How do we balance desires for reconciliation with feelings about revenge? How we remember wars and what commemoration…
- The end of civilisations and societies · 57 min"Doom-prepping" tech billionaires have been in the headlines recently and whether it’s ecological crisis or a breakdown in law and order, fear of societal collapse seems to lurk…
- Rational and Irrational decision making · 57 minFrom economics to dreams: Anne McElvoy and guests consider the value of irrationality. How often is emotion, instinct and unsound thinking behind the decisions taken by…
- Traditions, roots and local pride · 57 minFrom military ceremonies to folk customs - can traditions really provide an answer to nationalism and boost local pride? Former MP Penny Mordaunt is publishing a book called Pomp…
- The status of science · 58 minScience is one of the major sources of authority in society today. Scientists develop technologies to make our lives easier and more comfortable. They fight diseases, they have…
- What is a good life? · 57 minWhat does living a good life involve? Michael Rosen's new book is called Good Days and offers suggestions to brighten our daily lives. Dr Sophie Scott-Brown is a research fellow…
- Finding my tribe · 57 minIn party conference season, we look at what bonds party members and what it means to create a new network with its own shared beliefs and rituals. What light can the big thinkers…
- Friendship · 57 minThe French philosopher Michel Foucault though friendship could be one of the most subversive relationships around. Our friends can be the most important people in our lives. But…
- Censorship, editing and self-censorship · 57 minShahidha Bari looks at censorship, editing and self-censorship with guests including historian of China, Rana Mitter, Jemimah Steinfeld of Index on Censorship and Nigel…
- Christian faith, politics and culture · 56 minAnne McElvoy and guests explore the intersections between Christian faith and political decision-making and look at some recent dramas which explore the impact of belief. Chine…
- Language · 57 minJournalists Peter Hitchens and Oliver Kamm, radio presenter and comedian Ellis James, languages expert Ross Perlin, Diana Sutton director of The Bell Foundation and podcaster and…
- Failure · 57 min"Ever tried. Ever failed. No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better." The words of Samuel Beckett from a 1983 short story Worstward Ho inspire a Free Thinking conversation…
- Podcasting difficult histories · 57 minPersonal Identity is at the heart of contemporary culture. Political philosophies are built around it and family history is a hobby undertaken by hundreds of thousands…
- Common Sense · 57 minWhat do we mean by 'common sense'? In 1925 the philosopher GE Moore wrote a Defence of Common Sense which argued against philosophical idealism, on the grounds that it seemed to…
- Power: A User's Guide · 57 minPolitical power can take many forms, from the top-down model of the Roman Empire, to operating in the democratic politics of today, to the possibilities offered by new…
- Wolves · 57 minWolves were once hunted and persecuted to the point of near extinction but are now enjoying a come back across Europe, if not the UK. What can explain the way they've been…
