Arts & Ideas

Leading thinkers discuss the ideas shaping our lives – looking back at the news and making links between past and present.

Radio 4,1259 episodes

Episodes

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Failure
From business to sport, politics to the writing of Samuel Beckett: how do we view failure
13 Jun 2025,56 mins
Podcasting difficult histories
Matthew Sweet discusses difficult histories with 3 BBC podcast hosts at the Hay Festival
06 Jun 2025,56 mins
Common Sense
Ann Widdecombe, Rachael Wiseman, Sarah Jilani and Tiffany Watt Smith with Matthew Sweet
04 Jun 2025,56 mins
Power: A User's Guide
From the Hay Festival, Matthew Sweet discusses the many forms of political power
04 Jun 2025,57 mins
WOLVES
How wolves shape our modern world.
23 May 2025,56 mins
Political Visions
Anne McElvoy sets off in search of the sunlit uplands
16 May 2025,56 mins
Peace
In the week of VE Day, Matthew Sweet discusses what peace has meant since 1945
09 May 2025,56 mins
Community
Post local elections and pre VE day events, Shahidha Bari explores ideas about community
02 May 2025,56 mins
Decadence
Matthew Sweet assesses the state of contemporary culture
25 Apr 2025,56 mins
The Middle Classes
Muriel Zagha, Prof. Sam Friedman, Lord Willetts, Lisa Holdsworth & Prof. Melinda Mills
28 Mar 2025,56 mins
Isolation
Matthew Sweet explores ideas about being on your own
21 Mar 2025,56 mins
Evidence
Lord Sumption, Danny Robins, Dr Sarah Dillon Dr Jonathan Egid and Dr Anthony Milligan
14 Mar 2025,57 mins
Uncertainty
Chris Lintott, Margaret Heffernan, Liam Halligan, Tim Garton Ash, Victoria Donovan
07 Mar 2025,56 mins
A pinch of salt
A key preservative, the subject of taxes, a danger to plant-life - how much salt is good?
28 Feb 2025,56 mins
Malcolm X, life changes and flexible thinking
Timandra Harkness, Ekow Eshun, Sophie Grace Chappell, Richard Bett and Stephen Bush
21 Feb 2025,35 mins
All we need is love
Susie Orbach, Armand D'Angour, Vittoria Fallanca, Mary Harrod and Catherine Wheatley.
14 Feb 2025,56 mins
Repetition
Matthew Sweet and guests discuss routine, repetition and our sense of time
07 Feb 2025,56 mins
Decision Making
From think tanks & tallies to tarot, what tools do we use to help us choose our actions?
31 Jan 2025,50 mins
Diaries
Michael Crick, Irving Finkel, Sophie Coulombeau and Oliver Burkeman join Matthew Sweet
24 Jan 2025,56 mins
Knowing When To Stop
From art to activism, campaigning to cabaret, Shahidha Bari asks when is enough enough?
10 Jan 2025,57 mins
Beer, Crisps and the British pub
Tim Martin, Natalie Whittle, Prof Philip Howell, Dr Marianne Hem Eriksen, Ben Wright.
20 Dec 2024,56 mins
Luck, predictability and superstition
Dr Christian Busch, Bobby Seagull, Sharron Davies, Dr Kate Tomas and Timandra Harkness.
13 Dec 2024,57 mins
How we think about evil
Matthew Sweet and guests pick up from this year's Reith lectures and look at ideas of evil
06 Dec 2024,56 mins
Gifts and Gratitude
Following Thanksgiving, and as Christmas approaches, Shahidha Bari on giving and receiving
29 Nov 2024,56 mins
Diplomacy from Ancient Greece to Trump
Sir Nigel Sheinwald,Clare Jackson, Holly Furneaux and Bronwen Maddox discuss diplomacy
22 Nov 2024,56 mins
Cosy comfort reading or Nietzsche?
Alexander McCall Smith, Susannah Clapp, Tom Shakespeare, Deborah Sugg Ryan & Hugo Drochon
15 Nov 2024,56 mins
Milton and our modern world
It's 350 years since the death of Milton - we discuss ideas of Puritanism and divorce
08 Nov 2024,56 mins
Ghosts, death and ecstatic states
Shahidha Bari with Irving Finkel, Simon Critchley, Chris Harding & Hetta Howes
01 Nov 2024,57 mins
Are we all American now?
3Short Freddy Gray, Dr Katie McGettigan, Amanda Taub, Kit Davis, Rana Mitter
25 Oct 2024,56 mins
Insiders & Outsiders
Matthew Sweet and guests explore the secret languages of the internet and beyond
18 Oct 2024,56 mins