Free Thinking Episodes Episode guide
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Extinction Rebellion and the End of the World
Rana Mitter looks at the ideologies surrounding climate disaster.
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Speaking the right language.
Matthew Sweet asks how did the English language grow & what are the key election phrases?
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The wealth gap, #MeToo and Edith Wharton
Laurence Scott and Alice Kelly re-read Wharton's 'gilded-age' novel The Age of Innocence.
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Pan-Africanism
Shahidha Bari discusses pan-Africanism in plays, films, literature and politics.
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The shadow of empire and colonialism
Historian William Dalrymple, Wasafiri editor Susheila Nasta and novelist Romesh Gunesekera
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Feasting, fasting, hospitality and food security
From plenty to food banks - writer Priya Basil, curator Victoria Avery and Maia Elliot
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When TV & the information superhighway were new
Matthew Sweet and guests reflect on the experimental art of Nam June Paik and John Giorno
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Resting and Rushing
Claudia Hammond has solutions for our frazzled times and Matthew Smith looks at ritalin.
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The Future of Universities
Larry Summers and Josie Frasser on the impact of technology and globalisation.
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Is the Shadow of Mao still hanging over China?
Rana Mitter talks to historians of China Jung Chang and Julia Lovell, and Cindy Yu.
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The legacy of the Trojan War
Why do the legendary walls of a Bronze Age city still cast such a long shadow?
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George Eliot's Mill on the Floss
Rebecca Mead, Fiona Shaw, Philip Davis, Dafydd Daniel & Peggy Reynolds with Shahidha Bari.
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Are the arts saving Margate?
Philip Dodd finds out about the Turner Contemporary鈥檚 impact. Plus writer Maggie Gee.
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Being Human: Love Stories
New research taking love stories out of the vaults and into the gay bar.
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Why We Need New News: Being Human Festival Research
Shahidha Bari looks at news past and present from hangings to updating TV news bulletins.
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Weimar and the Subversion of Cabaret Culture
Le Gateau Chocolat, Lucy McCormick and Gaylene Gould with Matthew Sweet at the Barbican.
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The 2019 Free Thinking Imperial War Museum Remembrance Debate
Carrie Reichardt, Peter Bazalgette, Zahed Tajeddin and Rebecca Newell with Anne McElvoy.
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The changing image of masculinity
Writers Ben Lerner, JJ Bola and Derek Owusu on images of masculinity in fiction and life.
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Quatermass
Matthew Sweet celebrates the classic TV sci-fi series with Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat.
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Halloween. Ghost Stories
Haunting stories with Kirsty Logan, Jeremy Dyson and host Shahidha Bari.
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Cars, Parking and Motorways.
A discussion reflecting on automobiles, AI and the 60th anniversary of the M1 motorway.
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Writing Real Life from Brexit to Grenfell
Ali Smith, Jay Bernard and James Graham join Matthew Sweet at the British Library.
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Landmark: The Yorkshire Feminist Winifred Holtby
Matthew Sweet is joined by Rachel Reeves MP, Jane Thomas and Katie Cooper in Hull.
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What to Believe
Rana Mitter and guests look at the history of atheism and morality.
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The 2019 Frieze Free Thinking Museums Debate
Museum directors from Asia and France join Anne McElvoy and an audience at RIBA.
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Dictators
Matthew Sweet and guests on Chaplin's 1941 film, The Great Dictator, and rising populism.
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The Woolly episode.
From Sean the Sheep & Damien Hirst to clothiers & a knitted bikini. Shahida Bari presents.
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2019 Booker Prize, The Power of Ancient Artefacts
Anne McElvoy talks prehistory with archaeologist Mike Pitts and artist Renee So.
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East Meets West
Historian Tom Holland, critic Fatima Bhutto, Ziauddin Sardar, and artist Inci Eviner.
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Modern Dutch Writing
Laurence Scott looks at the way Dutch writers are addressing history and contemporary life
