Free Thinking Episodes Episode guide
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Marxism
Anne Applebaum, Gregory Claeys, Jane Humphries and Richard Seymour discuss Marxism now.
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America: Inequality & Race
Jesmyn Ward, John Edgar Wideman and Sarah Churchwell talk to Christopher Harding.
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Tokyo Idols and Urban life
Tomoyuki Hoshino, Suzanne Mooney, Mariko Nagai and Kyoko Miyake on representing city life.
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Landmark: Rashomon
David Peace and Natasha Pulley look at the writing of Akutagawa and the film by Kurosawa.
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Japan and Nature
The photographs of Mika Ninagawa and the new novel from Hideo Yokoyama, with Anne McElvoy.
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Learning from Sweden
From IKEA to Bergman and ABBA - Matthew Sweet looks at Sweden's impact on Britain.
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Shakespeare, Creativity and the Role of the Writer
Warwickshire words in the Bard's verse + the real Cleopatra. And playwright Ella Hickson.
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The Politics of Fashion and Drag
Shahidha Bari talks to Jenny Gilbert about fashion & Scrumbly Koldewyn about The Cockettes
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Marilynne Robinson
The American novelist and essayist talks religion, fiction & US politics with Rana Mitter.
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Macbeth and Things Fall Apart
Jo Nesb酶 and Mark Ravenhill on the Scottish Play; Chinua Achebe's novel about leadership.
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British New Wave Films of the '60s
Matthew Sweet evaluates the legacy of the film company behind A Taste of Honey & The Knack
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New Research into the UK Women's Suffrage Movement
Helen Pankhurst, Jane Robinson, Fern Riddell and others discuss women's suffrage.
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Landmark: The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing
Lara Feigel, David Aaronovitch, Melissa Benn, Xiaolu Guo, Matthew Sweet on Doris Lessing.
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A Sentimental Journey
Sean Williams rereads Laurence Sterne's subjective travel book and talks to Philip Hensher
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What Lies Beneath; Neanderthal Cave Art to Fatbergs
Francis Pryor, Paul Pettitt, Ruth Whitehouse; Sean Borodale; Sharon Robinson-Calver.
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How Big Should the State Be?
David Willetts, Polly Toynbee, Simone Finn, Julia Black, Adrian Wooldridge + Anne McElvoy.
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The Joy of Bureaucracy
Matthew Sweet with guests including Lord Butler, Andre Spicer and Eliane Glaser.
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Steven Pinker on Progress
Steven Pinker explains to Philip Dodd why we should ignore headlines + be more optimistic.
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Napoleon in Fact and Fiction
Anne McElvoy looks at Napoleon impersonators, ballads and what if he didn't die in exile?
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Reflecting Rural Life
Film maker Clio Barnard and novelist Amanda Craig on rural life. Matthew Sweet presents.
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Mark Dion; Colour, Insects, Virginia Woolf
Anne McElvoy meets artist Mark Dion and biologist Menno Schilthuizen.
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Michael Ignatieff and Central Europe
Philip Dodd talks to Michael Ignatieff about the political landscape of central Europe.
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Tariq Ali
Rana Mitter talks to Tariq Ali, novelist, historian and political activist.
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Celebrating Buchi Emecheta
Shahidha Bari leads a discussion of Nigerian-born novelist Buchi Emecheta (1944-2017).
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Landmark: The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie
A Landmark edition in which Philip Dodd and guests examine The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie.
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Trade, Davos, Ocean travel and Mermaids.
Anne McElvoy on Davos discussions, Ocean liner style at the V&A and mermaids in fiction.
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The Working Class in Culture
Philip Dodd and guests ask has culture forgotten the working class?
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Burns the Radical; Exploration
Humboldt as Ecuadorian explorer, plus the territory between Scotland and England.
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Royalty, art and patronage
Craig Brown, Afua Hirsch, Joe Moshenska and Philip Dodd discuss Charles I's art.
