Free Thinking Podcast
Leading thinkers discuss the ideas shaping our lives - looking back at the news and making links between past and present. Fridays at 9pm on BBC Radio 4. Presented by Matthew Sweet, Shahidha Bari and Anne McElvoy.
Episodes to download
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Belonging
Wed 8 Apr 2020
Philip Dodd talks to actor Christopher Eccleston and historian Ruth Dudley Edwards
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New Thinking: Religion and ordinary lives
Tue 7 Apr 2020
Tom Charlton looks for evidence of belief from samplers to children's scribbles in bibles
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Revisit: What does game playing teach us
Sat 4 Apr 2020
From a Mesopotamian game to Scrabble, Shahidha Bari discusses competition and gaming.
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New Thinking: Wordsworth
Tue 31 Mar 2020
Professors Sally Bushell & Simon Bainbridge talk to New Generation Thinker Sarah Jackson
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The Declaration Of Arbroath
Wed 25 Mar 2020
Anne McElvoy and guests discuss the early medieval document and Scottish politics today
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How do we build a new masculinity ?
Tue 24 Mar 2020
Sunil Gupta, CN Lester, Tom Shakespeare & Alona Pardo with Matthew Sweet
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What's so great about EM Forster
Mon 23 Mar 2020
Deborah Levy and Laurence Scott talk to Shahidha Bari about the English novelist's work.
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Future Thinking
Fri 20 Mar 2020
Mark Honigsbaum, Lisa Mullen, Riel Miller, Sarah Dillon & Rupert Read with Matthew Sweet
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Contagion and Viruses
Thu 19 Mar 2020
Matthew Sweet talks to John Dupré , Mark Honigsbaum, Lisa Mullen & Matt Adams
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Shoes
Thu 19 Mar 2020
From Roman sandals to trainers and stilettos - Shahidha Bari looks at the shoe trade
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New Thinking: Science Fiction
Wed 18 Mar 2020
Hetta Howes, Caroline Edwards & Amy Butt ask is science fiction the new realism?
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Does Growth Matter?
Tue 17 Mar 2020
Is the economic future all about growth? Danny Dorling discusses Slowdown.
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Slebs: Warhol, Beaton and celebrity culture
Thu 12 Mar 2020
Lisa Mullen, Caroline Frost and historian & podcast host Greg Jenner join Matthew Sweet
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Advertising & Artemisia
Wed 11 Mar 2020
Considering how women have shaped art and advertising and new feminist writing in Korea.
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Fighting Women
Tue 10 Mar 2020
How women have fought on the frontline from antiquity to the present day
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Jewish Identity in 2020
Fri 6 Mar 2020
Howard Jacobson, Bari Weiss, Hadley Freeman, and Jonathan Freedland join Matthew Sweet.
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Anne Enright + the value of gossip
Wed 4 Mar 2020
Anne Enright discusses acting with Daisy Black, Emily Butterworth and Marie Le Conte.
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How archictecture shapes society
Thu 27 Feb 2020
Ricky Burdett, Liza Fior, Des Fitzgerald, Alexandra Daisy Ginsberg Edwin Heathcote at LSE
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New Thinking: Everything to Everybody - Shakespeare for the people
Thu 27 Feb 2020
Islam Issa hears how Adrian Lester and Ewan Fernie are taking Shakespeare to the people
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Japan Now 2020
Thu 27 Feb 2020
Philip Dodd talks to Hiromi Ito, Tomoko Sawada, Yukiko Motoya, and Motoyuki Shibata
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Genes, racism, ageing and evidence
Tue 25 Feb 2020
Daniel Levitin on ageing & Adam Rutherford on race and genetics.
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African Empire Stories
Thu 20 Feb 2020
Petina Gappah & Sarah LeFanu on Livingstone, Kipling and Mary Kingsley in Africa
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The Surreal World of Alejandro Jodorowsky
Wed 19 Feb 2020
Matthew Sweet talks to the Chilean French director Alejandro Jodorowsky and to critics
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Queer histories
Thu 13 Feb 2020
How do we apply modern LGBT+ language and identities to historical figures?
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The History of Sex
Thu 13 Feb 2020
Fern Riddell, Kate Lister and Robin Mitchell discuss their research with Matthew
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The shadow of slavery
Wed 12 Feb 2020
From sugar and spice, to reparations and memorials: slavery and how we acknowledge it
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Early cinema: why are we obsessed with firsts?
Fri 7 Feb 2020
Matthew Sweet looks back at the early history of cinema
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Samuel Beckett & the purpose of culture
Wed 5 Feb 2020
If we want the arts to be a comfort blanket, where does Beckett fit in?
Discussions and talks from the Free Thinking Festival 2019
Angry politics, what we can’t say, being diplomatic, weeping, emotion in music, film & TV
Click to listen to discussions, talks and music as the Free Thinking Festival 2019 Gets Emotional
Angry politics, what we can’t say, being diplomatic, weeping, emotion in music, film & TV
CLICK to LISTEN & SEE programmes from the Free Thinking Festival 2018: The One & the Many
We examine the fast-changing relationship between the individual & the crowd
CLICK to LISTEN & SEE all programmes, images, clips & features from 2017's festival
Free Thinking Festival 2017: The Speed of Life
