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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International Review
Mon 12 Dec 2011
Matthew Sweet entertains guests from Ghana, Italy, India and Egypt to discuss Saladin,...
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Were the Luddites Right?
Thu 1 Dec 2011
Updated corrected audio: Rana Mitter chairs a debate about the Luddites to mark their...
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Charles Jencks
Fri 25 Nov 2011
Landscape architect Charles Jencks calls for a new cosmic art, in a talk entitled the...
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Sarah-Jayne Blakemore
Thu 24 Nov 2011
Neuro-scientist Sarah-Jayne Blakemore gives a talk on changes in the teenage brain.
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Susie Orbach
Tue 22 Nov 2011
Psychotherapist Susie Orbach challenges the obsession with personal change.
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The impact of a future energy crisis on our way of life
Fri 18 Nov 2011
How will our world change as traditional energy supplies shrink and climate change us...
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Aditya Chakrabortty
Fri 18 Nov 2011
Economist Aditya Chakrabortty examines the impact of economic change on society.
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Can We Stop the Mania for Change?
Thu 17 Nov 2011
Philip Dodd chairs a debate on the obsession with change, at the BBC Radio 3 Free 2011...
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Julian Savulescu - The Moral Obligation to Improve
Wed 16 Nov 2011
Julian Savulescu, Oxford Professor of Ethics, makes the case for human enhancement and...
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Linda Colley
Mon 14 Nov 2011
Leading historian Linda Colley gives a talk on how we have dealt with periods of in us...
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Germaine Greer
Fri 11 Nov 2011
Germaine Greer delivers a talk questioning the pursuit of freedom at the BBC Radio 3...
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Kevin Fong
Thu 10 Nov 2011
Kevin Fong, who presents BBC2's Horizon and is a leading expert on space medicine, a 3...
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The Foreign Secretary William Hague
Wed 9 Nov 2011
William Hague discusses the dramatic changes taking throughout the globe and Britain's...
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Rev Dr Giles Fraser
Tue 8 Nov 2011
Rev Dr Giles Fraser, the former Canon Chancellor of St Paul's Cathedral, gives a talk...
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Wikipedia Founder Jimmy Wales
Mon 7 Nov 2011
Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales launches this year's BBC Radio 3 Free Thinking Festival...
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Francis Wells
Mon 7 Nov 2011
One of the world's top heart surgeons, Francis Wells, discusses the future of the his...
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Chris Patten
Tue 1 Nov 2011
The full Night Waves interview with ex-Hong Kong Governor and new chairman of the BBC...
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David Attenborough, golden age of science, Soviet art
Tue 1 Nov 2011
David Attenborough talks to Matthew Sweet about his new TV series Frozen Planet.
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Cultivating Civility, the Village, the Lives of Novelists
Tue 25 Oct 2011
Philip Dodd looks at the state of English civility. Anne McElvoy delves into the world...
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Robert Trivers, Quentin Blake, Carol Ann Duffy
Mon 17 Oct 2011
This week in the face of a deepening economic crisis Rana Mitter asks should we save...
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Woody Allen, Charles Dickens biography and what it means to be human
Tue 11 Oct 2011
Juiet Gardner talks to Woody Allen about his latest comedy Midnight in Paris.
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Lars von Trier Special
Mon 3 Oct 2011
In this special edition of the podcast, Matthew Sweet's full interview with the Danish...
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Robert Harris, King Lear, The British Empire
Mon 3 Oct 2011
Anne McElvoy talks to writer Robert Harris about his new novel set amidst the current...
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Private Eye,Grief,Imran Khan,Thomas Friedman
Tue 27 Sep 2011
Anne McElvoy talks to Adam Macqueen as Private Eye turns 50. Matthew Sweet discusses -...
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New Generation Thinkers, Screen Writers, Anna Funder, Page One documentary
Wed 21 Sep 2011
Rana Mitter discusses irony with our New Generation Thinkers and Anne McElvoy talks to...
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Proms Plus Literary
Mon 12 Sep 2011
Poet and former Children's Laureate Michael Rosen and presenter Ian McMillan introduce...
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Proms Plus Literary
Mon 5 Sep 2011
Biographer John Carey and author Meg Rosoff join Ian McMillan to discuss one of -...
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Proms Plus Literary
Fri 2 Sep 2011
The death of Prince Albert 150 years ago inspired the creation of the home of the -...
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Proms Plus Literary: Dante and Andrew Litton
Thu 25 Aug 2011
Historical novelist Sarah Dunant and Margaret Keane, author of ‘Inferno’, discuss...
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Proms Plus Literary
Wed 17 Aug 2011
Matthew Sweet talks to Sir Ronald Harwood, Oscar winning screenwriter of The Pianist...
