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 BBC Radio 4. Presented by Matthew Sweet, Shahidha Bari and Anne McElvoy.
Episodes to download
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The consolation of philosophy and stories
Thu 9 Jul 2020
Matthew Sweet talks to Kylie Murray, Prof Seth Lerer and former Bishop Richard Holloway
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What does a black history curriculum look like?
Wed 8 Jul 2020
Whose life stories are missing from the British history we write and teach?
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Prison Break
Fri 3 Jul 2020
New Generation Thinker Jeffrey Howard asks is it ever ok to escape from prison?
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Facing Facts
Fri 3 Jul 2020
From duelling injuries to eye patches - Emily Cock asks how we respond to peoples' faces
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Gambling, good leadership and economic history
Fri 3 Jul 2020
Anne McElvoy looks at betting, economics and the leadership of US presidents
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Frank Cottrell-Boyce
Wed 1 Jul 2020
The screenwriter and novelist talks to Matthew Sweet about depicting Britain in his work.
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Dam Fever and The Diaspora
Sun 28 Jun 2020
How do large dam projects attract such adoration, despite lessons of twentieth century?
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Not Quite Jean Muir
Sun 28 Jun 2020
How does sewing a dress add to Jade Halbert's understanding of disappearing skills
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Digging Deep
Sun 28 Jun 2020
Susan Greaney asks whether Neolithic attitudes to the earth could shape our thinking.
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Berlin, Detroit, Race and Techno Music
Sun 28 Jun 2020
Tom Smith looks at the early pioneers of this music scene & arguments about whiteness now
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Coming out Crip and Acts of Care
Sun 28 Jun 2020
Ella Parry-Davies draws on experiences of migrant domestic workers in the UK & Lebanon
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Tudor Virtual Reality
Sun 28 Jun 2020
What is the link between VR dinosaurs & a Tudor wall painting of the Judgement of Solomon?
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Ian Rankin and Tahmima Anam
Fri 26 Jun 2020
A pair of authors due to be at the Bradford Literature Festival compare notes on writing.
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Revisit: Arundhati Roy
Thu 25 Jun 2020
The Man Booker prize winning author and campaigner is in conversation with Philip Dodd.
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Rethinking the Curriculum
Mon 22 Jun 2020
Sandeep Parmar, Jade Cuttle, Edith Hall, Seb Falk talk to Rana Mitter about what we teach
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Irenosen Okojie and Nadifa Mohamed. Midsummer archaeology
Mon 22 Jun 2020
A virtual Bare Lit Festival talk, Nadifa Mohammed & Irenosen Okojie with Shahidha Bari
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Queer Bloomsbury and stillness in art and dance
Wed 17 Jun 2020
Paul Mendez and Francesca Wade on Virginia Woolf, walking, identity and Dalloway Day
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Revisit: Antarctica - testing ground for the human species
Tue 16 Jun 2020
An author, scientist, architect and explorer compare notes on this polar region.
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New Thinking: Refugees
Tue 16 Jun 2020
What are the best shelters? the right language? what do we learn from self help in camps?
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The future of theatre debate
Fri 12 Jun 2020
Bertie Carvel, Amit Lahav, Eleanor Loyd, Roy Alexander Weise, Caroline Dinenage MP & more
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Failure and female friendship
Wed 10 Jun 2020
Lara Feigel, Michèle Roberts & New Generation Thinker Alexandra Reza with Shahidha Bari
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Dickens
Tue 9 Jun 2020
Mathew Sweet, Linda Grant, Laurence Scott & Lucy Whitehead 150 years since Dickens' death
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New Thinking: Tackling Modern Slavery
Thu 4 Jun 2020
Naomi Paxton looks at new research into the effectiveness of the UK Act passed in 2015
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Robin Askwith
Wed 3 Jun 2020
The actor talks to Matthew Sweet about a childhood affected by polio and his career.
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Revisit: Tokyo Story
Tue 2 Jun 2020
Actor Richard Wilson & Prof Naoko Shimazu discuss Yasujiro Ozu's 1953 film of family life
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Revisit: Rowan Williams and Simon Armitage
Thu 28 May 2020
Landscape in poetry discussed by Rowan Williams and Simon Armitage at Hay.
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Sarah Perry
Wed 27 May 2020
In a conversation with Mathew Sweet, the gothic author explores writing past and present.
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Revisit: My Body Clock is Broken
Thu 21 May 2020
Jay Griffiths, Vincent Deary, Louise Robinson and Matthew Smith discuss our mental health
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Anne Fine and Romesh Gunesekera. Jarman's Garden
Thu 21 May 2020
Shahidha Bari talks to a pair of writers about routines & knowing how to start and stop.
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Kindness
Wed 20 May 2020
Rutger Bregman tells Anne McElvoy why survival of the fittest needs rethinking as an idea
