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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The Condom and V.D.
Thu 15 Feb 2024
Matthew Sweet and guests talk about sexual health, VD clinics, sex work and condoms
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The Greenwich Outrage
Fri 9 Feb 2024
The attempt by an anarchist to blow up the Royal Observatory in 1894 and its consequences
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Iris Murdoch's The Sovereignty of Good
Mon 5 Feb 2024
Matthew Sweet and guests on Iris Murdoch's thought and writing (15 July 1919-8 Feb 1999)
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On The Silver Globe
Fri 2 Feb 2024
Take a mind-bending trip to a distant planet with Andrzej Zulawski's cult 1987 SF film
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East West religious connections
Wed 31 Jan 2024
Authors Rowan Williams & Christopher Harding and artist Gayle Chong Kwan join Rana Mitter
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Secrets, Lies & Irish History
Tue 30 Jan 2024
Clair Wills, Martin Doyle, Scott McKendry & Louise Brangan discuss secrets and conflict
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Holocaust history
Fri 26 Jan 2024
Ahead of Holocaust Memorial Day (Jan 27) Anne McElvoy hears testimony and new research
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The Kyoto School
Wed 24 Jan 2024
Chris Harding investigates the flourishing of Japanese philosophy in the 1930s and beyond
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Heidegger & Antisemitism
Tue 23 Jan 2024
Matthew Sweet discusses the influential German philosopher's relationship with Nazism
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What is normal?
Fri 19 Jan 2024
Sarah Chaney, Louise Creechan and Robert Chapman on neurodiversity, with Matthew Sweet
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Shakespeare's Women
Wed 17 Jan 2024
The women who crop up in Shakespeare's life, his plays and who helped conserve his legacy
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Dust, dirt and domesticity
Tue 16 Jan 2024
From mould to desertification Naomi Paxton and guests on the impact of dirt,heat and damp
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Octavia Butler's Kindred
Thu 11 Jan 2024
A novel from 1979 which uses time travel to explore race, slavery and trauma
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Essay writing
Wed 10 Jan 2024
From Montaigne to modern Scottish writing - Rana Mitter discusses what makes a good Essay
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Travel, pleasure and peril
Wed 3 Jan 2024
From preventing strangulation on the railways to guide maps and the art of travel posters
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Dickens, Disney and copyright
Thu 21 Dec 2023
Matthew Sweet looks at copyright rules for Mickey Mouse & Dickens in C19th America
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New Thinking: Carols and Convents
Wed 20 Dec 2023
English Nuns abroad, and are carols just for Christmas?
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Greek myth, goddesses and art
Wed 20 Dec 2023
From classic myths rewritten by Natalie Haynes to the art of John Craxton in Crete
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Prize Winners 2023
Tue 19 Dec 2023
Nandini Das, Tania Branigan, Halik Kochanski, Ed Yong, John Vallaint talk to Rana Mitter
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Harry Belafonte
Fri 15 Dec 2023
The long career of the American singer, film star & activist with Matthew Sweet & guests
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Margaret Cavendish
Wed 13 Dec 2023
Nandini Das and guests discuss the Duchess of Newcastle - philosopher, poet and scientist
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Narnia and CS Lewis
Wed 6 Dec 2023
Exploring the literary and theological terrain of C.S. Lewis's Narnia
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Humboldt, soil, gardens and Frank Walter
Tue 5 Dec 2023
For World Soil Day, a celebration of art, research and ideas to revive the earth
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New Thinking: Disability in Music and Theatre
Fri 1 Dec 2023
Dr Louise Creechan and guests discuss adaptive music technology & musical theatre roles
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Kadare, Gospodinov, Kafka and Dickens
Fri 1 Dec 2023
Bureaucracies of the soul satirised in novels. Matthew Sweet's guests include Lea Ypi.
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Libraries
Wed 29 Nov 2023
From Alexandria to Mid Wales, Laurence Scott and guests look at library history.
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Lorca
Tue 28 Nov 2023
As the National Theatre stages The House of Bernarda Alba, Rana Mitter discusses Lorca
