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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Revisit Mike Leigh in Conversation about Peterloo, politics and his Salford upbringing.
Wed 14 Aug 2019
The film-maker talks to Matthew Sweet about depicting history and politics on film.
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Revisit Spike Lee in Conversation on Free Thinking
Mon 5 Aug 2019
The film-maker talks to Matthew Sweet about BlacKkKlansman & his 2000 film Bamboozled
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Book Parts and Difficulty
Fri 19 Jul 2019
Matthew Sweet looks at frontispieces, titles and marginalia, and hard texts.
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New angles on post-war Germany and Austria
Wed 17 Jul 2019
Anne McElvoy with Florian Huber, Sophie Hardach, Adam Scovell, Tom Smith
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New Thinking: Neolithic Revelations
Wed 17 Jul 2019
A lack of Neolithic dental floss proves to be a boon for archaeologists,
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Camille Paglia
Tue 16 Jul 2019
Camille Paglia in conversation with Philip Dodd about free speech and feminism
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An insider's view of war
Thu 11 Jul 2019
Ex-Marine & journalist Elliot Ackerman on Al Qaeda and the Iraq War. Rana Mitter presents
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Caine Prize. Ivo van Hove. Female Desire.
Wed 10 Jul 2019
Shahidha Bari looks at staging Ayn Rand's ideas and meets the 2019 Caine Prize winner.
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Landmark: Iris Murdoch's The Sovereignty of Good
Wed 10 Jul 2019
Matthew Sweet discusses Iris Murdoch's philosophical essay of 1970
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Reinventing the 'Mistake on the Lake'.
Thu 4 Jul 2019
Philip Dodd visits the US rust belt city of Cleveland.
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Russia and Fear.
Thu 4 Jul 2019
Rana Mitter considers fearing Russia past & present with Mark B Smith & Tamar Koplatadze.
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Free Thinking: Language and Belonging
Wed 3 Jul 2019
Preti Taneja with Guy Gunaratne,Dina Nayeri, Michael Rosen, Momtaza Mehri & Deena Mohamed
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Amitav Ghosh. Layla and Majnun. Islam Issa.
Fri 28 Jun 2019
Amitav Ghosh on linking refugees, climate change, Venice & Bengali forests in his fiction
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Cindy Sherman, Laura Cumming
Wed 26 Jun 2019
The art of Cindy Sherman plus art critic Laura Cumming on the days her mother disappeared
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Catch 22, Recycling fashion, Fred D'Aguiar, Wu Mali
Thu 20 Jun 2019
Anne McElvoy watches George Clooney in Catch-22 on TV and looks at recycling fashion.
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Landmark: Finnegans Wake
Wed 19 Jun 2019
Matthew Sweet and guests discuss James Joyce's experimental novel.
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Afropean Identities. Filming the Arab Spring.
Fri 14 Jun 2019
Johny Pitts and Caryl Phillips discuss the idea of Afropean identity with Matthew Sweet.
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Michael Rakowitz, Archaeology Now, Epic Journeys and Facial Disfigurement
Wed 12 Jun 2019
Artist, archaeologists, a writer and a historian of the face make the invisible visible
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Breaking Down the Barriers
Tue 11 Jun 2019
The cultural contribution of Muslim women and Rana Mitter talks to artist John Keane
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Orwell's 1984. A Landmark of Culture.
Thu 6 Jun 2019
Matthew Sweet explores what fed into Orwell's future vision & how our own is shaping up.
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Is the Law keeping up with our changing world?
Wed 5 Jun 2019
A panel of researchers share insights into the law and warfare, gender and AI
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AI and creativity: what makes us human?
Tue 4 Jun 2019
A discussion hosted by Matthew Sweet at the Barbican's exhibition AI More Than Human
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Simon Schama, Siri Hustvedt, Catherine Fletcher at Hay.
Thu 30 May 2019
Rana Mitter discusses writing on art from Da Vinci and Rembrandt to Louise Bourgeois.
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Landmark: Rachel Carson's Silent Spring
Wed 29 May 2019
Rana Mitter hosts a debate at Hay Festival about the rise of the environmental movement
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Stanley Spencer, Domestic Servants, Surrogacy
Wed 22 May 2019
Authors Nicola Upson and Joanne Ramos, and researchers Gulzaar Barn & Ella Parry-Davies.
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Sebald. Anti-semitism. Carolyn Forché
Thu 16 May 2019
The walking & photographs of WG Sebald. An exhibition of money and Jewish history.
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Rivers, different cultures, different values
Wed 15 May 2019
Anthropologist, Poet, Archaeologist and Angler reflect on what a river should be
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
