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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Mocking power past and present.
Wed 5 Feb 2020
The German joker Tyll Ulenspiegel. Anne McElvoy, Daniel Kehlmann & Karen Leeder discuss.
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New Thinking: It all begins here? Understanding the Industrial Revolution
Fri 31 Jan 2020
John Gallagher discusses the Industrial Revolution with Emma Griffin and William Ashworth
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Fungi: An Alien Encounter
Thu 30 Jan 2020
Are fungi out to get us or here to help? A look at mushrooms in art, food and psychology.
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How we see pregnancy past and present
Thu 30 Jan 2020
Anne McElvoy hears the story of a woman who gave birth to rabbits and the news from Davos
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Remembering Auschwitz
Tue 28 Jan 2020
Rana Mitter marks the anniversary of the 1945 liberation & talks to author Anne Michaels
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What is good listening?
Fri 24 Jan 2020
Matthew Sweet with NYT journalist Kate Murphy, Anne Karpf, David Toop.
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Poetry and Science: A 19th century metre on the (uni)verse
Wed 22 Jan 2020
Jocelyn Bell Burnell, Greg Tate, Sam Illingworth & Sunayana Bhargava join Anne McElvoy.
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Goddesses of academia
Tue 21 Jan 2020
Nikita Gill, Francesca Wade, Sandeep Parmar & Victoria Leonard talk goddesses & classics
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New Thinking: About Face
Fri 17 Jan 2020
Would you change your nose if you could? What about an entire face transplant?
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Psychohistory: Isaac Asimov and guiding the future
Thu 16 Jan 2020
Matthew Sweet asks if the fictional science of psychohistory changed the future of humans
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Why we read and the idea of the "woman writer"
Thu 16 Jan 2020
From Elizabethan Anne Dowriche, Victorian Anne Bronte to why women say they read now.
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Simplify your life
Wed 15 Jan 2020
Nudism, camping, and vegetarianism: the Life Reform movement explained.
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Philosophy and Film
Fri 10 Jan 2020
Rana Mitter, Sally Potter and philosophers discuss whether you can philosophise with film
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Could there be a private language?
Thu 9 Jan 2020
Shahidha Bari investigates Wittgenstein's response to scepticism
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Panpsychism - Is matter conscious?
Thu 9 Jan 2020
Matthew Sweet lifts the lid on panpsychism, a radical movement in philosophy
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The Strange Case of the Huge Country Pile
Thu 19 Dec 2019
Why are we so obsessed by the setting of the big country house, upstairs and downstairs?
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The culture wars and politics now.
Wed 18 Dec 2019
Philip Dodd with Douglas Murray, David Goodhart, Beatrix Campbell & Maya Goodfellow.
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Extinction Rebellion and the End of the World
Wed 18 Dec 2019
Rana Mitter looks at the ideologies surrounding climate disaster
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Speaking the right language.
Fri 13 Dec 2019
Matthew Sweet asks how did the English language grow & what are the key election phrases?
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The wealth gap, #MeToo and Edith Wharton
Thu 12 Dec 2019
Rereading Edith Wharton's novel The Age of Innocence.
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Pan-Africanism
Tue 10 Dec 2019
Shahidha Bari discusses pan-Africanism in plays, films, literature and politics.
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The shadow of empire and colonialism
Thu 5 Dec 2019
The company that gave the world atrocious corporate violence and beautiful art
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Feasting, fasting, hospitality, and food security
Wed 4 Dec 2019
Food for thought? Eleanor Barraclough hosts Vicky Avery, Priya Basil, and Maia Elliott.
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When TV & the information superhighway were new
Tue 3 Dec 2019
Matthew Sweet and guests reflect on the experimental art of Nam June Paik and John Giorno
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Resting And Rushing
Thu 28 Nov 2019
Should we take more breaks at during the working day? With Claudia Hammond.
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The future of universities
Wed 27 Nov 2019
Harvard's Larry Summers & OU's Josie Fraser on the impact of technology & globalisation
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Is the Shadow of Mao still hanging over China?
Tue 26 Nov 2019
Rana Mitter talks to historians of China Jung Chang and Julia Lovell, & reporter Cindy Yu
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Are the arts saving Margate?
Fri 22 Nov 2019
Investigating regeneration and gentrification in the new arts hub.
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Why We Need New News
Fri 22 Nov 2019
Research on reporting hangings, assassinations & propaganda from the Being Human Festival
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
