Free Thinking

BBC Radio 4

5.0 (1)
Society & Culture
Every two weeks

Leading thinkers discuss the ideas shaping our lives - looking back at the news and making links between past and present. Fridays at 9pm on BBC Radio 4. Presented by Matthew Sweet, Shahidha Bari and Anne McElvoy.

26 Jun

The Child's Eye View

Shahidha Bari investigates the child’s-eye view of the world. From navigating AI, to living through war, to the joys of reading, what makes children’s perspectives so distinctive? With writer Katherine Rundell, psychotherapist Josh Cohen, nature writer and novelist Elizabeth-Jane Burnett, historian Emma Butcher, and psychologist Nomisha Kurian. Producer: Luke Mulhall

56 min
19 Jun

Eccentrics & Outsiders

How has the figure of the outsider or eccentric has been used to explore English culture, history, politics, and our relationship with nature and the countryside? Matthew Sweet discusses, including a re-reading of Sylvia Townsend Warner's 1926 novel Lolly Willowes, in which a middle aged woman leaves her suburban life behind to become a witch. With philosopher Charles Foster, literary historian Jade Munslow Ong, political philosopher Sophie Scott Brown, and psychotherapist Mark Vernon. Producer: Luke Mulhall

1hr 55min
12 Jun

Satire and Gulliver's Travels

300 years after the publication of Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels, Matthew Sweet looks at satire, past and present. How can satirists reflect critically and humorously on political events in an age of social media saturation and at a time when reality can seem stranger than fiction? He is joined by: Andrew Hunter Murray, comedian, writer and host of Radio 4's The Naked Week. His new book is Bad Deeds. Jan Ravens, actor and impressionist, known for her work on Spitting Image and Radio 4's Dead Ringers Rosie Holt, actor and comedian. Rosie's shows Churchill's Urinal and Rosie Holt: The Illegal Aliens have landed! will both be at Edinburgh Festival. Tom Peck, Parliamentary sketch writer for The Times and Siôn Parkinson, artist, Research Associate at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and 2026 AHRC/BBC New Generation Thinker. Producer: Eliane Glaser

57 min
5 Jun

Wealth

Anne McElvoy and guests discuss the concentration, distribution and morality of wealth now and look back at An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, published by the Scottish economist and philosopher Adam Smith in 1776, which gives an early account of what builds nations' wealth and introduced concepts such as free markets, the division of labour, and productivity. Our guests for this episode of BBC Radio 4's Friday night ideas discussion programme are: Vicky Pryce, economist and business consultant and co-author of Mismanaged Decline What Politicians Won’t Tell You About the Economy Maha Rafi Atal, Adam Smith Senior Lecturer in Political Economy at the University of Glasgow. The University is holding a series of events to mark the 250th anniversary of the publication of The Wealth of Nations. Dafydd Daniel, Lecturer in Divinity at the University of St Andrews Allister Heath, business journalist Hettie O'Brien, Guardian writer and author of The Asset Class: How Private Equity Turned Capitalism Against Itself Producer: Eliane Glaser You can hear another discussion about searching for economic solutions in the most recent episode of Start the Week, Radio 4's Monday morning discussion programme where Tom Sutcliffe was joined by Mariana Mazzucato, Jeremy Hunt and Patrick Foulis.

57 min
29 May

Free Thinking at the Hay Festival: Responsibility

Freedom is one of the leading values of our society. But with freedom comes responsibility, which is a much more contested principle. Deciding where responsibility lies, and what it means to take it, is the job of the courts. It is also debated in Parliament and in the media. It is often at issue on the psychotherapist’s couch. For Radio 4’s arts and ideas discussion programme, Shahidha Bari gathers a panel of experts who deal with the concept of responsibility in very different contexts. Recorded in front of an audience at the Hay Festival, Shahidha's guests are: Baroness Hale served as the most senior judge in the UK. Her books include Spider Woman, and With the Law on Our Side Psychotherapist and artist Philippa Perry. Her books include The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read, How to Stay Sane and now a crime novel Shrink Solves Murder Philosopher Simon Critchley. His books include On Mysticism, Tragedy: The Greeks and Us, and What We Think About When We Think About Football Former Downing Street Director of Communications Guto Harri Producer: Luke Mulhall

57 min
22 May

Thinking with Food

The links between food and philosophy, ideas about experimentation, taste and how food and traditions become part of our identity are explored by Matthew Sweet in Radio 4's round-table discussion programme. His guests are: Author John Lanchester, who writes restaurant reviews and whose latest novel is called Look What You Made Me Do Food writer Felicity Cloake, who writes a Cook the Perfect column for The Guardian newspaper and has published books called Red Sauce, Brown Sauce: A British Breakfast Odyssey, Peach Street to Lobster Lane: Coast to Coast in Search of Real American Cuisine and now her debut novel The Underdog. Professor Barry Smith, director of the Institute of Philosophy at the University of London's School of Advanced Study Philosopher Suki Finn, whose book What's in a Donut Hole? uses food to explore classic philosophical puzzles Author Samantha Ellis, whose book Chopping Onions on My Heart is a memoir about Iraqi Jewish food, language and culture Producer: Eliane Glaser

57 min
15 May

Technologies of the Self

‘Technologies of the self’ is a phrase from the French philosopher Michel Foucault to describe things people might do to shape the people they are, like dieting, exercise, journaling, or in an earlier age perhaps like prayer, or confession. Shahidha Bari hosts Radio 4's roundtable discussion programme asking how this idea might help us make sense of the age of social media influencers and lifestyle trends. Her guests are: Elizabeth Oldfield, host of The Sacred podcast, author of Fully Alive: Tending The Soul In Turbulent Times Anouchka Grose, psychotherapist and author of The Revolution Will Be Internalised Tiffany Watt Smith, historian of emotions whose most recent book is Bad Friend: On Joyous Imperfect love Heather Widows, philosopher and author of Perfect Me: Beauty As An Ethical Ideal and Daniele Lorenzini, philosopher and Foucault scholar Producer: Luke Mulhall Show less

57 min
8 May

The Middle

From taking the middle ground to the mid-life crisis, Middle England to middle managers, to being a middle child - is occupying a position in the middle out of fashion? Anne McElvoy hosts Radio 4's ideas discussion programme and her guests this week for a middling conversation are: Journalist Catherine Carr. Her new book Who's the Favourite?: The Loving, Messy Realities of Sibling Relationships explores being a middle child and the relevance of birth order Writer and broadcaster Mark Lawson, who has written novels set in middle England Symeon Brown, home affairs correspondent at Channel 4 news, whose forthcoming book is The Good, the Black and the Boujee: The Story of Britain's New Black Middle Class Adrian Wooldridge, journalist, author and Global Business Columnist at Bloomberg Opinion. His recent book is entitled Centrists of the World Unite! The Lost Genius of Liberalism. and Claire Ainsley, former adviser to Keir Starmer, now at the Progressive Policy Institute. Producer: Eliane Glaser

57 min

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Matthew Sweet

Host

Leading thinkers discuss the ideas shaping our lives - looking back at the news and making links between past and present. Fridays at 9pm on BBC Radio 4. Presented by Matthew Sweet, Shahidha Bari and Anne McElvoy.