Is the Shadow of Mao still hanging over China?

Rana Mitter talks to historians of China Jung Chang and Julia Lovell, & reporter Cindy Yu

• 45 mins

The future of universities

Harvard's Larry Summers & OU's Josie Fraser on the impact of technology & globalisation

• 45 mins

Resting And Rushing

Should we take more breaks at during the working day? With Claudia Hammond.

• 48 mins

When TV & the information superhighway were new

Matthew Sweet and guests reflect on the experimental art of Nam June Paik and John Giorno

• 44 mins

Feasting, fasting, hospitality, and food security

Food for thought? Eleanor Barraclough hosts Vicky Avery, Priya Basil, and Maia Elliott.

• 56 mins

The shadow of empire and colonialism

The company that gave the world atrocious corporate violence and beautiful art

• 49 mins

Pan-Africanism

Shahidha Bari discusses pan-Africanism in plays, films, literature and politics.

• 44 mins

The wealth gap, #MeToo and Edith Wharton

Rereading Edith Wharton's novel The Age of Innocence.

• 44 mins

Speaking the right language.

Matthew Sweet asks how did the English language grow & what are the key election phrases?

• 45 mins

New Thinking: Telling new sporting stories

A look at changing attitudes about sportswomen, once dubbed unfeminine, & LGBT athletes

• 29 mins

Extinction Rebellion and the End of the World

Rana Mitter looks at the ideologies surrounding climate disaster

• 49 mins

The culture wars and politics now.

Philip Dodd with Douglas Murray, David Goodhart, Beatrix Campbell & Maya Goodfellow.

• 44 mins

The Strange Case of the Huge Country Pile

Why are we so obsessed by the setting of the big country house, upstairs and downstairs?

• 67 mins

Panpsychism - Is matter conscious?

Matthew Sweet lifts the lid on panpsychism, a radical movement in philosophy

• 48 mins

Could there be a private language?

Shahidha Bari investigates Wittgenstein's response to scepticism

• 67 mins

Philosophy and Film

Rana Mitter, Sally Potter and philosophers discuss whether you can philosophise with film

• 53 mins

Simplify your life

Nudism, camping, and vegetarianism: the Life Reform movement explained.

• 53 mins

Why we read and the idea of the "woman writer"

From Elizabethan Anne Dowriche, Victorian Anne Bronte to why women say they read now.

• 45 mins

Psychohistory: Isaac Asimov and guiding the future

Matthew Sweet asks if the fictional science of psychohistory changed the future of humans

• 45 mins

New Thinking: About Face

Would you change your nose if you could? What about an entire face transplant?

• 40 mins

Goddesses of academia

Nikita Gill, Francesca Wade, Sandeep Parmar & Victoria Leonard talk goddesses & classics

• 46 mins

Poetry and Science: A 19th century metre on the (uni)verse

Jocelyn Bell Burnell, Greg Tate, Sam Illingworth & Sunayana Bhargava join Anne McElvoy.

• 45 mins

What is good listening?

Matthew Sweet with NYT journalist Kate Murphy, Anne Karpf, David Toop.

• 46 mins

Remembering Auschwitz

Rana Mitter marks the anniversary of the 1945 liberation & talks to author Anne Michaels

• 45 mins

How we see pregnancy past and present

Anne McElvoy hears the story of a woman who gave birth to rabbits and the news from Davos

• 45 mins

Fungi: An Alien Encounter

Are fungi out to get us or here to help? A look at mushrooms in art, food and psychology.

• 46 mins

New Thinking: It all begins here? Understanding the Industrial Revolution

John Gallagher discusses the Industrial Revolution with Emma Griffin and William Ashworth

• 46 mins

Mocking power past and present.

The German joker Tyll Ulenspiegel. Anne McElvoy, Daniel Kehlmann & Karen Leeder discuss.

• 44 mins

Samuel Beckett & the purpose of culture

If we want the arts to be a comfort blanket, where does Beckett fit in?

• 45 mins

Early cinema: why are we obsessed with firsts?

Matthew Sweet looks back at the early history of cinema

• 44 mins