Free Thinking

BBC Radio 4

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.

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20 episodes
Avg 56 min
English

Episodes 20

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July 10 · 56 min
The Ethics of Knowledge
Matthew Sweet and guests discuss the ethics of knowledge.
July 3 · 56 min
Trade and Traffic
Jeremy Hunt, Nandini Das, Rana Mitter, Soumaya Keynes & Lauren Working join Anne McElvoy.
June 26 · 56 min
The Child's Eye View
Shahidha Bari asks how we can learn from children's perspectives. With Katherine Rundell.
June 19 · 56 min
Eccentrics & Outsiders
Matthew Sweet takes a sideways look at Englishness.
June 12 · 56 min
Satire and Gulliver's Travels
Matthew Sweet and guests discuss satire past and present.
June 5 · 56 min
Wealth
Can the accumulation of wealth be ethical and what can we learn from Adam Smith's enquiry?
May 29 · 56 min
Free Thinking at the Hay Festival: Responsibility
Baroness Hale, Philippa Perry, Guto Harri and Simon Critchley join Shahidha Bari at Hay.
May 22 · 56 min
Thinking with Food
Felicity Cloake, John Lanchester, Prof Barry Smith, Suki Finn and Samantha Ellis.
May 15 · 57 min
Technologies of the Self
From journaling to prayer: Shahidha Bari on the history and politics of self improvement.
May 8 · 57 min
The Middle
Middle - England, ground, child, age, pig in... Anne McElvoy hosts a middling discussion.
May 1 · 56 min
Weapons, Real and Symbolic
Matthew Sweet and guests discuss tanks, guns, gaming, drones and what weaponisation means.
April 24 · 56 min
Purity
David Aaronovitch, Catherine Coldstream, Linda Woodhead and others join Matthew Sweet.
March 27 · 56 min
Humility
From Spinoza's thinking to the "humble brag" - Matthew Sweet and guests explore humility.
March 20 · 56 min
Oral Tradition and Oracy
Anne McElvoy and guests look at speaking fluently in politics, the classroom & communities
March 16 · 56 min
Taste
Matthew Sweet and guests explore what it means to have 'good taste'.
March 6 · 56 min
Women, Language and Experience
Shahidha Bari's guests include Karen McCarthy Woolf, Lauren Elkin and Sara Ahmed.
February 27 · 57 min
Authority
Anne McElvoy and guests discuss authority in politics, business, education and the family.
February 20 · 56 min
Crime and Punishment: Medieval to Modern
Matthew Sweet's guests include Lord Sumption and criminal barrister Joanna Hardy-Susskind.
February 13 · 56 min
Working Class Creativity
Depictions of working class life on TV and in culture and how they've changed.
February 6 · 56 min
Is Might Right?
The history of an idea that's shaped political philosophy, from Plato to Carl Schmitt.

Showing 1–20 of 20 episodes