Arts & Ideas

BBC Radio 4

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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.

4 PV SITTEN

Weapons, real and symbolic

How do weapons exert real and symbolic power, both now and in history? Joining Matthew Sweet in Radio 4's round table discussion programme about ideas are: The former soldier and politician Tobias Ellwood The sculptor Hew Locke, whose artworks exploring colonial power have featured weaponry The Renaissance historian Catherine Fletcher, whose latest book is The Firearm Revolution: From Renaissance Italy to the European Empires The historian and broadcaster Mark Urban, whose books include Tank and Rifles and Hailey Austin, Lecturer in Visual Media and Culture at Abertay University who researches comics and videogames. Producer: Eliane Glaser

56 min
4 PV SITTEN

Weapons, real and symbolic

How do weapons exert real and symbolic power, both now and in history? Joining Matthew Sweet are: The former soldier and politician Tobias Ellwood The sculptor Hew Locke, whose artworks exploring colonial power have featured weaponry The Renaissance historian Catherine Fletcher, whose latest book is The Firearm Revolution: From Renaissance Italy to the European Empires The historian and broadcaster Mark Urban, whose books include Tank and Rifles and Hailey Austin, Lecturer in Visual Media and Culture at Abertay University who researches comics and videogames. Producer: Eliane Glaser

56 min
24.4.

Purity

From spiritual cleanliness to purity spirals: Matthew Sweet is joined by guests including David Aaronovitch; Catherine Coldstream, author of Cloistered – My Years as a Nun; Linda Woodhead, Professor of the Sociology of Religion at King's College, University of London; Izabella Scott, author of The Bed Trick; and Louise Brangan, author of The Fallen: The Magdalene Laundries and Ireland’s Legacy of Silence. They’ll be discussing ideas of purity in political ideology, religion, anthropology and the experiences of teenage girls. Producer Luke Mulhall

57 min
27.3.

Humility

From Spinoza's thinking and the approach of different religions to the Dickens' character Uriah Heep and the "humble brag" - in Radio 4's late night ideas discussion programme Matthew Sweet and guests explore humility. Lamorna Ash is a writer and journalist and the author of Don't Forget We're Here Forever, which explores what it means to be a Christian for young people throughout the UK today and reflected on her own journey into faith. Sir Robert Buckland is the former Conservative MP for South Swindon, a former Lord Chancellor and Solicitor General. He is a practicing barrister with Foundry Chambers, a visiting law professor at the LSE and the Third Church Estates Commissioner. Aaron Reeves is Professor of Sociology at the London School of Economics and co author of Born to Rule: The Making and Remaking of the British Elite with Sam Friedman. Ceri Sullivan is a Professor of English Literature at Cardiff University. Her research has encompassed the managerial techniques presented in Shakespeare's history plays, pragmatism in literary texts and devotional poetry. Dr Dan Taylor is Senior Lecturer in Social and Political Thought at the Open University. He is the author of Spinoza and the Politics of Freedom and is involved in long term projects with long-term projects examining inclusion and housing in Barking and Dagenham; unpaid care in Gateshead; and community in the Fens. Producer: Ruth Watts

57 min
20.3.

Oral tradition and oracy

Oracy - the ability to express oneself fluently - has been included in plans to modernise the national curriculum, with a new focus on equipping young people with the skills they need for life and work. In Radio 4's round-table discussion programme, Anne McElvoy and guests look at how you teach oracy and explore the value of passing on traditional knowledge using methods like songs and poems. Joining Anne are Reetika Subramanian is based at the University of East Anglia and is currently a researcher in residence with BBC Radio 4. She hosts the Climate Brides podcast and studies women’s work songs as records of environmental change Edith Hall, Professor of Classics at Durham University who champions the use of Classical rhetoric to foster oracy in schools Philip Collins, former speechwriter to Tony Blair Edith and Philip have taken part in Our Public House, a theatre performance staged by Dash Arts that builds on workshops with over 700 people nationwide who shared their visions for our nation's future. Stephen Batchelor, secular Buddhist teacher and writer and author of Buddha, Socrates and Us: Ethical Living in Uncertain Times, published by Yale University Press (2025). Tom F. Wright, historian of rhetoric at the University of Sussex Producer: Eliane Glaser

57 min
16.3.

Taste

'It's all in the best possible taste'. But what does it mean to have good taste? And does pursuing good taste lead to favouring style over substance? Who are the thinkers who have considered a philosophy of aesthetics Matthew Sweet hosts Radio 4's late night ideas discussion programme. His guests are: Film historian and New Generation Thinker Sarah Smyth, who lectures in film and TV at the University of Essex Philosopher Dr John Callanan, who lectures on Kant at King's College London Writer and management consultant Peter York, whose books include Style War, co-author of The Official Sloane Ranger handbook Broadcaster and writer Emma Dabiri who co-presented Britain's Lost Masterpieces for BBC 4 and whose latest book is Disobedient Bodies: Reclaim Your Unruly Beauty Opera singer Le Gateau Chocolat Producer Luke Mulhall

57 min
6.3.

Women, language & experience

In a special programme looking ahead to International Women’s Day on March 8th, Shahidha Bari looks at how women express themselves in language, argument, poetry and art. Her guests include: Sara Ahmed is the author of No is Not a Lonely Utterance Karen McCarthy Woolf's latest poetry collection is called Unsafe Lauren Elkin's books include Art Monsters: Unruly Bodies in Feminist Art, she translated Simone de Beauvoir's previously-unpublished novel The Inseparables and has a new book coming out in May Vocal Break: On Women, Music, and Power. She has been reading the new translation by Sophie Lewis of Angst by the French feminist thinker Hélène Cixous Mary Wellesley is a historian and author of Hidden Hands: The Lives of Manuscripts and Their Makers Ash Percival-Borley, military historian and former soldier Producer: Luke Mulhall

57 min
27.2.

Authority

Is authority a justly unfashionable quality that we should consign to the past? Or does it still have a place in political and business leadership, schools, medical settings and in the home? What is the difference between authority and power, how have historical shifts such as the advent of the internet affected public perceptions of authority, and how much should authority feature in the raising of children? In Radio 4's roundtable discussion programme about ideas past and present, Anne McElvoy and guests explore these questions and more. Justine Greening is a former Conservative Secretary of State for Education and Minister for Women and Equalities Martin Gurri is a former CIA analyst who writes about the relationship between politics and media who published a book called The Revolt of the Public and the Crisis of Authority in the New Millennium Sophie Scott-Brown is a philosopher and historian of anarchism Peter Hyman is a former headteacher and adviser to Tony Blair and Keir Starmer who writes a Substack, Changing the Story Tom Simpson is the Alfred Landecker Professor of Values and Public Policy at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford Producer: Eliane Glaser

57 min

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Matthew Sweet

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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.