Arts & Ideas Podcast
Leading thinkers discuss the ideas shaping our lives 鈥� looking back at the news and making links between past and present. Broadcast as Free Thinking, Fridays at 9pm on 蜜芽传媒 Radio 4. Presented by Matthew Sweet, Shahidha Bari and Anne McElvoy.
Episodes to download
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The pros and cons of Swearing.
Fri 3 Nov 2017
Comedian Janey Godley, historian John Gallagher, author Emma Byrne, poet Bridget Minamore
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Benjamin Britten and Radio
Wed 1 Nov 2017
David Hendy, Glyn Maxwell, Kate Kennedy and Lucy Walker with an audience at Aldeburgh.
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Jonathan Swift at 350. Black and White Art. History of British nature writing.
Tue 31 Oct 2017
Anne McElvoy on art from monochrome religious painting to a yellow light filled room...
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Forgotten authors, cult fiction and The Prisoner
Thu 26 Oct 2017
Director Alex Cox, Christopher Fowler, Clare Walker Gore & Lynda Nead with Matthew Sweet
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Free Thinking: Young Marx, Yanis Varoufakis and Ruth Lea and Tara Bergin
Thu 26 Oct 2017
Yanis Varoufakis with Philip Dodd. Plus the new play from Richard Bean and Clive Coleman
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Harry Potter. Tim O'Reilly. Tove Jansson.
Wed 25 Oct 2017
Web guru Tim O'Reilly; the magical worlds of Harry Potter, Philip Pullman, Tove Jansson
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Free Thinking: Landmark: Marnie
Wed 18 Oct 2017
Matthew Sweet with an exploration of memory and Winston Graham's novel/Hitchcock's film
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The Man Booker Prize. Mike Bartlett. Is Small Beautiful?
Tue 17 Oct 2017
Dr Foster writer Mike Bartlett on his new play Albion plus the rise of small nations.
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Pacific Rim politics; Ronan Bennett; Sjon
Thu 12 Oct 2017
Rana Mitter hosts a debate on relations between Japan, US and China.
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Jewish history, jokes and contemporary identity. Michael Longley
Wed 11 Oct 2017
Simon Schama and Devorah Baum discuss Jewishness
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Salman Rushdie. Uncertainty
Tue 10 Oct 2017
Novelists Salman Rushdie and Lionel Shriver plus Marcus Chown and Rachel Hewitt.
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Free Thinking - Blade Runner. Ghost Stories
Thu 5 Oct 2017
Matthew Sweet watches a vision of Los Angeles 2049 & visits haunted places in Portsmouth
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Free Thinking - Alan Hollinghurst
Wed 4 Oct 2017
The former Booker Prize winner talks to Anne McElvoy and a Proms Extra audience.
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Free Thinking: The importance of networks; the art of dance.
Tue 3 Oct 2017
Niall Ferguson argues for a less hierarchical history. Degas' images of the human body.
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Landmark: Andrew Marvell's To His Coy Mistress
Thu 28 Sep 2017
Michael Symmons Roberts, Helen Mort and Stewart Mottram join Matthew Sweet in Hull.
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Simon Heffer. Social Conservatism. Sibelius. D'Oyly Carte.
Thu 28 Sep 2017
Rana Mitter and guests look back to Edwardian England and at conservative thinking now.
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Kamila Shamsie: John Kasmin. Dido
Tue 26 Sep 2017
Philip Dodd looks at postcards of beggars, the love and scorn of Dido and radicalisation.
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Free Thinking. Bernard MacLaverty. Immigration. Christian destruction of Classical World
Thu 21 Sep 2017
The Northern Irish author of Cal talks to Anne McElvoy about his new novel Midwinter Break
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Testosterone. The grey zone. Indian science.
Wed 20 Sep 2017
Jahnavi Phalkey, Matt Kimberley, Richard Fortey, Adrian Owen & Cordelia Fine.
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Diplomacy: Sir John Jenkins, Gabrielle Rifkind, Michael Burleigh, Dr Beyza Unal.
Wed 20 Sep 2017
Philip Dodd and guests explore the art of negotiation and discuss JT Rogers' play Oslo.
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Free Thinking: Russian Nationalism. Scythians. Hull and Port Talbot on stage.
Fri 15 Sep 2017
Anne McElvoy talks to Anne Applebaum about Russian and Ukrainian history.
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Free Thinking: Social Conservatism, Kathe Kollwitz and John Ashbery
Thu 14 Sep 2017
Art and irony - Philip Dodd and Joanna Kavenna on the K盲the Kollwitz show in Birmingham
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Free Thinking: Washing in public. Sir Peter Hall (1930 - 2017)
Tue 12 Sep 2017
Public pools, the "steamie" and the Turkish bath are explored by Matthew Sweet and guests.
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Proms Extra: Alan Hollinghurst
Mon 4 Sep 2017
Booker Prize winner, Alan Hollinghurst, discusses his new book, The Sparsholt Affair.
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Proms Extra: Lenin
Fri 1 Sep 2017
Anne McElvoy discusses Lenin with historians Helen Rappaport and Victor Sebestyen.
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Proms Extra: Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address
Tue 29 Aug 2017
Rana Mitter is joined by Kathleen Burk & Joanna Cohen to discuss the Gettysburg Address.
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Proms Extra: Ancient Rome
Tue 29 Aug 2017
Matthew Sweet talks to Natalie Haynes about the glory that was Rome.
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Proms Extra: Unfinished Art and Literature
Wed 23 Aug 2017
Ian McMillan on the appeal and arts of the Unfinished
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Proms Extra: Djinn
Fri 18 Aug 2017
Elif Shafak and Shahidha Bari tell Ian McMillan why humans need the genie
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Proms Extra: Sleep and Insomnia
Wed 16 Aug 2017
Sports sleep coach Nick Littlehales & novelist A. L. Kennedy discuss sleep & insomnia.
