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BBC Radio 4

Weekly discussion programme, setting the cultural agenda every Monday

  1. 6 DAYS AGO

    Rethinking politics

    If trust in politicians is broken and the political system isn't delivering, then how might we go about fixing things? Can we revive faith in democratic government by doing things differently? The political scientist Hélène Landemore argues that electoral politics is broken and that the answer lies in doing away with career politicians. She imagines dismantling a system that is biased in favour of the special interests of big money, propelled by the constant quest for re-election and the jaded proffering empty promises. In her new book, Politics without Politicians she posits that, among other solutions, we need Athenian style participation through mechanisms such as civic lotteries. More people need to be involved first hand in decision making if everyone is to feel heard. Author and broadcaster Phil Tinline explains why he thinks politicians need to start thinking and talking about power again if they are to stand a chance of delivering on their promises. He argues that if nothing ever changes, then we need to understand who has too much power and who has too little and be prepared to do something about it. Michael Gove is the editor of The Spectator and a member of the House of Lords. He has extensive experience of government, serving in cabinet under four prime ministers between 2010 and 2024. It is widely acknowledged among, both his admirers and his critics, that he rapidly got to grips with his department's brief and knew exactly how to drive an agenda for change. He reflects on his experiences. Producer: Ruth Watts

    42 min

  2. 12 JAN

    The arts and health

    What is the purpose of the Arts? Can music, literature and visual art change our lives physically and socially, as well as personally? Adam Rutherford explores the power of the arts and how it might be defined and explained. Engaging with the arts is one of our most powerful tools for unlocking health and happiness argues Daisy Fancourt. She is is Professor of Psychobiology and Epidemiology at University College London and Director of the World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre on Arts and Health. In her new book, Art Cure, she shows how songs support the development of children's brains; how dance can build neural pathways; how theatre and exhibitions can decrease pain, stress and depression and how the arts can improve the functioning of every major organ system in the body. Drawing on the latest research research in a range of scientific fields, she traces a connection between the arts and human flourishing. Earliest Stories: Stories, Novellas, Humoresques, 1880-1882 is a collection of the Russian writer Anton Chekhov's work while he was still a student of medicine. In his juvenilia we see flashes of insight alongside comedy, compassion and a developing narrative voice. Rosamund Bartlett, translator, biographer and cultural historian writes about how stories have long been dismissed, but written as his family faced financial crisis, reveal much about the threads that connect together in his life and work. BBC Radio 3 presenter Tom Service explores how music transports and defines us in his new book. In A History of the World in 50 Pieces, he examines how classical music reflects our changing politics, society and technological advances - and how composers, musicians and listeners have shaped history. From Bach to Beethoven via the Happy birthday song, he explores the power of music to connect and and challenge us. Producer: Ruth Watts

    41 min

  3. 29/12/2025

    Animals and Meaning

    What do animals mean to us? Naomi Alderman explores how animals shape human understanding, from ancient burial rites to modern science. The psychologist Justin Gregg specialises in dolphin social cognition. He introduces his new book, Humanish, a witty and provocative look at anthropomorphism — our habit of seeing human traits in animals, objects and machines — and how it helps us make sense of the world and increases empathy. Peter Fretwell is a leading scientist at the British Antarctic Survey, and author of The Penguin Book of Penguins. He celebrates the charm and complexity of penguins, from their evolutionary quirks to their cultural symbolism, alongside the threats they face today. Marianne Hem Eriksen is Professor of Viking Studies at the National Museum of Denmark and part of the BBC / Arts and Humanities Research Council scheme of New Generation Thinkers. She draws on archaeological evidence to show how Viking societies had a complex relationship with animals, seeing them not just as pets or food, but as extensions of human identity and mythology. Producer: Katy Hickman Assistant Producer: Natalia Fernandez

    42 min

  4. 22/12/2025

    Poetry - reading, writing, editing and translating

    How much can we truly know about the inner lives of others? Tom Sutcliffe is joined by Miles Leeson and Karen Leeder to reflect on the challenge of interpreting the minds and motivations of poets, both past and present. Editor Miles Leeson presents Poems from an Attic, a newly published collection of Iris Murdoch’s previously unseen poetry. Found in a box long after her death, these intimate verses offer fresh insight into the desires of a writer better known for her novels and philosophy. Professor Karen Leeder has spent much of her career studying the poetry of East Germany. Her recent translation of Durs Grünbein, Psyche Running: Selected Poems 2005-2022 won this year's Griffin Poetry Prize 2025. Grünbein has written about the wartime bombing of his birth city Dresden and as a translator of classical authors, including Aeschylus and Seneca, his work features reflections on the relevance of the past and of antiquity in the present. Nick Makoha's latest volume of poetry The New Carthaginians draws on an eclectic range of artistic, historic and cultural sources from the politics of 1970s Uganda to the myth of Icarus and the exploded collages of the neo-expressionist art movement. He writes employing symbols and traditions in startling ways to transform what we might think we know into something completely new. Producer: Ruth Watts

    42 min

  5. 15/12/2025

    The Dark

    Three visions of darkness as the days draw in. Adam Rutherford's guests for Radio 4's Monday discussion programme are a poet, a photographer of night-time and a National Gallery curator. Night Vision is the latest book from the award-winning poet and writer Jean Sprackland exploring our complex relationship with the dark: what we fear and what we wish to banish. In the dark she finds a place of possibility and she asks what might we discover in the dark if we free our imagination. The photographer Jasper Goodall has been taking photographs in the dark for many years, mainly in forests and woodlands. In 2025 in exhibitions on show at Nottingham, Brighton, Cornwall and the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition he has displayed works which draw on classical myth, European folklore and animistic belief systems. Christine Riding, Director of Collections and Research, talks about the images of scientific experiment and industrialisation in England on show in the National Gallery's exhibition showcasing the candlelight paintings of Wright of Derby (1734-1797). Wright of Derby: From the Shadows in the Sunley Room at the National Gallery runs until 10 May 2026 and there is an entrance fee. Producer: Ruth Watts

    42 min

  6. 08/12/2025

    Histories, emotions and identity

    Three prize-winning authors in today's discussion programme hosted by Tom Sutcliffe: The German Peasants’ War of 1524–1525 was the greatest popular uprising in Western Europe before the French Revolution. Tens of thousands of peasants rose up to demand a new, more egalitarian order—only to be crushed in a brutal counterattack that left up to 100,000 dead. The historian Lyndal Roper argues that this rebellion was far from chaotic: it was a coherent mass movement inspired by the radical ideals of the Protestant Reformation. Her book Summer of Fire and Blood is the winner of the 2025 Cundill History Prize. The neurologist Masud Husain explores the human mind through the stories of seven patients. In asking what it is that makes us who we are, he explores how our identity can shift when we lose just a single cognitive ability. He examines the stories a man who ran out of words, a woman who stopped caring what others thought, and another who, losing her memory, believed she was having an affair with her own husband. His account of the science of identity, Our Brains, Our Selves, won the Royal Society's 2025 Trivedi Science Book Prize. The historian Hannah Durkin explores the stories of the survivors of the Clotilda, the last ship of the Atlantic slave trade. Based on her original research she uses first hand accounts to tell the stories of the enslaved in their own words. Survivors: The Lost Stories of the Last Captives of the Atlantic Slave Trade is the winner of the 2025 Wolfson History Prize. Producer: Ruth Watts

    42 min

  7. 01/12/2025

    Space, Quantum Frontiers and Cosmic Clues

    What can the cosmos tell us about our past and future? Tom Sutcliffe and guests look skyward and deep into the quantum world to ask how much we can really know about the universe - and about ourselves. Space scientist Maggie Aderin-Pocock, presenter of this year’s Royal Institution Christmas Lectures, shares her passion for inspiring the next generation to think big, as she explores the wonders of our solar system and the questions that still puzzle astronomers. Physicist and cosmologist Paul Davies introduces his new book Quantum 2.0, charting the strange and revolutionary principles of quantum mechanics and how they are reshaping technology, science, and our understanding of reality itself. From the Natural History Museum, Caroline Smith brings insights from meteorites — fragments of ancient worlds — and explains how these cosmic messengers help scientists search for life beyond Earth and piece together the story of our solar system’s origins. Together, in Radio 4's weekly ideas discussion programme Start the Week, they consider the limits of knowledge: whether in decoding quantum mysteries, interpreting rocks from space, or imagining the motivations of those who first looked to the stars. Producer: Ruth Watts Assistant Producer: Natalia Fernandez

    42 min

  8. 24/11/2025

    Genes and hands: mapping character and health

    What can genetics and palmistry tell us about how we understand identity, character and health? Adam Rutherford is joined by Professor of Zoology Matthew Cobb; the historian Professor Alison Bashford and the geneticist Charlotte Houldcroft. Matthew Cobb discusses his biography Crick: A Mind in Motion. From the discovery of DNA’s structure to Francis Crick’s later work on consciousness, Cobb reveals a restless thinker whose collaborations — with scientists, artists and poets — shaped some of the most profound ideas of the 20th century. Alison Bashford turns to palm reading in her new book Decoding the Hand, a history of palmistry and its surprising entanglement with science, medicine and magic. The geneticist Charlotte Houldcroft's research uses ancient DNA to work out how DNA viruses - such as smallpox and herpes - change over time and the consequences of this evolution for our immune systems. Producer: Natalia Fernandez

    42 min
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About

Weekly discussion programme, setting the cultural agenda every Monday

Information

  • Creator
    BBC Radio 4
  • Years Active
    2006 - 2026
  • Episodes
    632
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © (C) BBC 2026
  • Show Website
    Start the Week

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