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Free Thinking Episodes

  1.

    Feelings, and feelings, and feelings

    Thomas Dixon, first director of the Queen Mary Centre for the History of the Emotions.

  2. Whatever happened to Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais?

    Matthew Sweet meets the TV writers of The Likely Lads, Porridge and Auf Wiedersehen, Pet.

  3. Betrayal

    Philip Dodd explores the idea of betrayal.

  4. Childhood faces and fears

    A history of orphans, fears about brainwashing and portraits on show at Compton Verney.

  5. Empathy

    Authors Max Porter, Samantha Harvey and AK Benjamin discuss empathy with Chris Harding.

  6. Jhumpa Lahiri, Valeria Luiselli, George Szirtes

    Two writers and a poet in conversation about language, migrants and personhood.

  7. Partition, colonial power and the voices of 16th-century women

    With Hew Locke, Suzannah Lipscomb, Aanchal Malhotra and Anindya Raychaudhuri.

  8. The Council Estate in Culture

    With George Shaw, Kader Attia, Dreda Say Mitchell, Katie Beswick and Matthew Sweet.

  9. Is British Culture Getting Weirder? Free Thinking at the Late Junction Festival

    Gazelle Twin, Julia Bardsley, Hannah Catherine Jones, Luke Turner and William Fowler.

  10. Women, relationships and the law past and present

    Novelists Ayelet Gundar-Goshen, Layla AlAmmar & historians Jennifer Aston + Jessica Malay.

  11. David Bailey, Don McCullin

    Philip Dodd goes to David Bailey's studio and talks to Don McCullin about his Tate show.

  12. Skeuomorphs, Design and Modern Craft

    Laurence Scott and Will Self talk about redundant features in design.

  13. Authority in the Era of Populism

    Louise Casey, Mary Kaldor, Jamie Bartlett, Heather Rabbatts, Rupert Reid and Anne McElvoy.

  14. Jack the Ripper and women as victims

    Hallie Rubenhold, Emma Jenkins, Dr Kate Lister and Ruth Ware join Matthew Sweet.

  15. Images of Japan

    Fumio Obata and Jocelyne Allen discuss graphic art and manga.

  16. The joy of sewing, poet Fatimah Asghar, Painting in miniature

    Shahidha Bari talks poetry and the web series Brown Girls, plus the history of sewing.

  17. Patti LuPone

    The musicals star on politics, performing, #Me Too and her Italian American roots.

  18. Love

    The science and art of love. Andrew McMillan, Lavinia Greenlaw, Elanor Dymott, Laura Mucha

  19. Africa, Babel, China

    Histories of West Africa, 20th-century China, and the art of translation.

  20. Spike Lee

    The film-maker talks black power, blackface and Academy Awards with Matthew Sweet.

  21. Self Knowledge, Global Catastrophe and Simulated Worlds.

    Quassim Cassam and Simon Beard with Matthew, plus RW Fassbinder's 1970s TV sci-fi series.

  22. Encylopedias and Knowledge: from Diderot to Wikipedia

    Jimmy Wales talks Diderot & collecting knowledge + Tariq Godard on Mark Fisher aka k-punk.

  23. Street Culture, Protests, Food

    Philip Dodd talks to gilet jaune and novelist Edouard Louis about streets and culture.

  24. Sea Goings

    Julia Blackburn, Katie Paterson, Charlotte Runcie, the Cutty Sark.

  25. Art and Refugees from Nazi Germany

    Writing about the Holocaust and the shock of Modernism in 1930s Britain.

  26. Consent

    How we deal with unwanted sexual advances and changing depictions on stage are debated.

  27. Slow Looking at Art

    Ways of Seeing with Michael Craig Martin, Aura Satz, Kelly Grovier & Daniel Glaser.

  28. Oscars 2019

    Matthew Sweet & guests look at films making waves as the Academy announces its shortlists.

  29. Icons

    Do our heroes and heroines have to be perfect? We look at ikons, film idols & politicians.

  30. Tourism past and present

    Must-see sights for post-Napoleonic War tourists, Cold War travellers and hot spots now.

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