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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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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New Thinking: Telling new sporting stories
Fri 13 Dec 2019
A look at changing attitudes about sportswomen, once dubbed unfeminine, & LGBT athletes
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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
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The Legacy of the Trojan War
Thu 21 Nov 2019
Why do the legendary walls of a Bronze Age city still cast such a long shadow?
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New Thinking: AHRC Research in Film Awards 2019
Sat 16 Nov 2019
Hetta Howes talks to winners of this year's AHRC Research in Film Awards
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The Changing Image of Masculinity.
Thu 14 Nov 2019
Writers Ben Lerner, JJ Bola & Derek Owusu on images of masculinity in fiction and life
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Weimar and the Subversion of Cabaret Culture
Tue 12 Nov 2019
Willkommen, bienvenue, welcome... Cabaret and club culture, recorded at the Barbican.
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The 2019 Free Thinking Imperial War Museum Remembrance Debate
Thu 7 Nov 2019
Who decides what’s worth saving and what is culturally significant to protect in wartime?
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Quatermass
Tue 5 Nov 2019
Matthew Sweet celebrates the classic TV sci-fi series with Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat
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New Thinking: Rubble culture to techno in post-war Germany
Fri 1 Nov 2019
Forgotten stories from cultural diplomats, British army bases and Berlin dancefloors
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Halloween. Ghost Stories
Fri 1 Nov 2019
Haunting stories with Kirsty Logan, Jeremy Dyson & host Shahidha Bari
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Cars, Parking and Motorways
Wed 30 Oct 2019
A discussion reflecting on automobiles, AI and the 60th anniversary of the M1 motorway.
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Writing Real Life from Brexit to Grenfell
Wed 30 Oct 2019
Ali Smith, Jay Bernard and James Graham at the British Library with Matthew Sweet
