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
-
![]()
The Middle Classes
Fri 28 Mar 2025
Muriel Zagha, Prof. Sam Friedman, Lord Willetts, Lisa Holdsworth & Prof. Melinda Mills
-
![]()
-
![]()
Evidence
Fri 14 Mar 2025
Lord Sumption, Danny Robins, Dr Sarah Dillon Dr Jonathan Egid and Dr Anthony Milligan
-
![]()
Uncertainty
Fri 7 Mar 2025
Chris Lintott, Margaret Heffernan, Liam Halligan, Tim Garton Ash, Victoria Donovan
-
![]()
A pinch of salt
Fri 28 Feb 2025
A key preservative, the subject of taxes, a danger to plant-life - how much salt is good?
-
![]()
Malcolm X, life changes and flexible thinking
Fri 21 Feb 2025
Timandra Harkness, Ekow Eshun, Sophie Grace Chappell, Richard Bett and Stephen Bush
-
![]()
All we need is love
Fri 14 Feb 2025
Susie Orbach, Armand D'Angour, Vittoria Fallanca, Mary Harrod and Catherine Wheatley.
-
![]()
Repetition
Fri 7 Feb 2025
Matthew Sweet and guests discuss routine, repetition and our sense of time
-
![]()
Decision Making
Fri 31 Jan 2025
From think tanks & tallies to tarot, what tools do we use to help us choose our actions?
-
![]()
Diaries
Fri 24 Jan 2025
Michael Crick, Irving Finkel, Sophie Coulombeau and Oliver Burkeman join Matthew Sweet
-
![]()
Knowing When To Stop
Fri 10 Jan 2025
From art to activism, campaigning to cabaret, Shahidha Bari asks when is enough enough?
-
![]()
Beer, Crisps and the British pub
Fri 20 Dec 2024
Tim Martin, Natalie Whittle, Prof Philip Howell, Dr Marianne Hem Eriksen, Ben Wright.
-
![]()
Luck, predictability and superstition
Fri 13 Dec 2024
Dr Christian Busch, Bobby Seagull, Sharron Davies, Dr Kate Tomas and Timandra Harkness.
-
![]()
How we think about evil
Fri 6 Dec 2024
Matthew Sweet and guests pick up from this year's Reith lectures and look at ideas of evil
-
![]()
Gifts and Gratitude
Fri 29 Nov 2024
Following Thanksgiving, and as Christmas approaches, Shahidha Bari on giving and receiving
-
![]()
Diplomacy from Ancient Greece to Trump
Fri 22 Nov 2024
Sir Nigel Sheinwald,Clare Jackson, Holly Furneaux and Bronwen Maddox discuss diplomacy
-
![]()
Cosy comfort reading or Nietzsche?
Fri 15 Nov 2024
Alexander McCall Smith, Susannah Clapp, Tom Shakespeare, Deborah Sugg Ryan & Hugo Drochon
-
![]()
Milton and our modern world
Fri 8 Nov 2024
It's 350 years since the death of Milton - we discuss ideas of Puritanism and divorce
-
![]()
Ghosts, death and ecstatic states
Fri 1 Nov 2024
Shahidha Bari with Irving Finkel, Simon Critchley, Chris Harding & Hetta Howes
-
![]()
Are we all American now?
Fri 25 Oct 2024
3Short Freddy Gray, Dr Katie McGettigan, Amanda Taub, Kit Davis, Rana Mitter
-
![]()
Insiders & Outsiders
Fri 18 Oct 2024
Matthew Sweet and guests explore the secret languages of the internet and beyond
-
![]()
Childhood and innocence
Fri 11 Oct 2024
Katherine Rundell, Emily Baughan, Grace Lockrobin, Miriam Cates, Andrew Cooper
-
![]()
-
![]()
The eternal dynamic of Rivalry, Fredric Jameson, the newly reopened Warburg Institute
Fri 27 Sep 2024
Michael Crick, Helen Castor, David Edmonds, Kate Maltby and Roger Luckhurst
-
![]()
Crisis & Decision
Fri 20 Sep 2024
Do we live in a time of crisis? Matthew Sweet gets to grips with the present moment
-
![]()
Carl Schmitt, democracy and dictatorship
Fri 13 Sep 2024
Anne McElvoy with guests including David Runciman and Gisela Stuart
-
![]()
Carl Schmitt, democracy and dictatorship
Fri 13 Sep 2024
Anne McElvoy with guests including David Runciman and Gisela Stuart
-
![]()
-
![]()
The illusion of time, the summer solstice & the philosophy of comedy
Fri 21 Jun 2024
Mark Miodownik, Emily Herring, Rob Newman & Fay Dowker consider Time with Matthew Sweet
-
![]()
History - the long and short of it
Fri 14 Jun 2024
Peter Frankopan, Alison Light, Bronwen Maddox & Zeinab Badawi join Matthew Sweet
