Arts & Ideas Podcast
Leading thinkers discuss the ideas shaping our lives – looking back at the news and making links between past and present. Broadcast as Free Thinking, Fridays at 9pm on ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Radio 4. Presented by Matthew Sweet, Shahidha Bari and Anne McElvoy.
Episodes to download
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New Research into the UK Women's Suffrage Movement.
Thu 8 Mar 2018
With Helen Pankhurst, Jane Robinson, Shahida Rahman, Fern Riddell and Miranda Garrett
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The Golden Notebook
Wed 7 Mar 2018
Lara Feigel, Xiaolu Guo, Melissa Benn + David Aaronovitch on Doris Lessing's 1962 novel.
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A Sentimental Journey
Thu 1 Mar 2018
Seán Williams rereads Laurence Sterne's subjective travel book & talks to Philip Hensher
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What Lies Beneath; Neanderthal Cave Art to Fatbergs
Wed 28 Feb 2018
Poetic and archaeological trip round our fascination with what comes up when we dig down.
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The Joy of Bureaucracy
Thu 22 Feb 2018
Matthew Sweet with guests including Lord Butler, André Spicer and Eliane Glaser
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Steven Pinker on Progress
Thu 22 Feb 2018
Steven Pinker explains to Philip Dodd why we should ignore headlines & be more optimistic
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Napoleon in Fact & Fiction
Wed 21 Feb 2018
Napoleon impersonators, ballads and what if he didn't die in exile?
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Reflecting Rural Life
Thu 15 Feb 2018
Film maker Clio Barnard and novelist Amanda Craig on rural life. Matthew Sweet presents.
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Free Thinking: Mark Dion; Colour, Insects, Virginia Woolf
Wed 14 Feb 2018
Human Beings are part of Natural History discuss: via art, science and the Bloosmbury set
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How Big Should the State Be?
Wed 14 Feb 2018
David Willetts, Polly Toynbee, Simone Finn, Julia Black & Adrian Wooldridge at LSE.
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Michael Ignatieff and Central Europe
Tue 13 Feb 2018
Philip Dodd talks to Michael Ignatieff about the political landscape of central Europe.
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Tariq Ali
Thu 8 Feb 2018
Rana Mitter talks to Tariq Ali, novelist, historian & political activist about 1968.
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Celebrating Buchi Emecheta
Thu 8 Feb 2018
Single motherhood, child slavery & parallels w/ Grenfell in the books of Buchi Emecheta
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Trade, Davos, Ocean travel and Mermaids
Fri 2 Feb 2018
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
Thu 1 Feb 2018
Philip Dodd and guests ask has culture forgotten the working class?
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Landmark: Ingmar Bergman's Wild Strawberries
Tue 30 Jan 2018
Colm Toibin, critic Larushka Ivan-Zadeh and Ellen Wettmark join Matthew Sweet.
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Burns the Radical; Exploration
Thu 25 Jan 2018
Humboldt as Ecuadorian explorer, plus the territory between Scotland and England.
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Royalty, art and patronage.
Wed 24 Jan 2018
Craig Brown, Afua Hirsch, Robert Jobson, Joe Moshenska, AN Wilson, Philip Dodd on royalty
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Oscar Contenders, Movie Moguls and Silent Film Stars
Tue 23 Jan 2018
Lucy Porter & Steve Massa on women of the silent era, Vanda Krefft on William Fox's life
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Frankenstein and AI now.
Thu 18 Jan 2018
Fiona Sampson, Daisy Hay, Christopher Frayling and David H. Guston with Matthew Sweet.
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French writing and politics
Wed 17 Jan 2018
Leïla Slimani, President Macron's champion of French culture and language, is interviewed
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Australian novelist Peter Carey.
Tue 16 Jan 2018
A car race around Australia is fictionalised in Peter Carey's latest novel + Ovid's tales
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Counterculture and Protest
Thu 11 Jan 2018
Matthew Sweet with Paul Hartnoll, Tony White, Tessa DeCarlo & Paul Cronin on uprisings.
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The In Between
Wed 10 Jan 2018
Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough considers airport lounges railway stations and liminal spaces
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Landmark: The Odyssey
Tue 9 Jan 2018
Amit Chaudhuri, Karen McCarthy Woolf, Daniel Mendelsohn and Emily Wilson join Philip Dodd
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The Invention of the Circus Ring
Wed 3 Jan 2018
Matthew Sweet looks at the career of impresario Philip Astley and 250 years of circus
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Rethinking Tradition
Tue 2 Jan 2018
Roger Scruton, Kevin Davey, Kirsty Gunn & Haroon Mirza on tradition & experiment
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A Literary Salon.
Thu 14 Dec 2017
Malika Booker, Neil Brand, Katherine Cooper and Jake Arnott join Matthew Sweet.
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Should We Keep Pets?
Wed 13 Dec 2017
John Bradshaw, Jessica Pierce, Philip Howell and Laura Purcell with Anne McElvoy.