A Point of View

Zoe Strimpel on the difficulty of deciding whether to have, or not have, children. She describes the 'paralysis of ambivalence'. But this ambivalence is surely, she writes, 'a natural response to the idea of setting in train the most unknowable outcome on earth'. Producer: Adele Armstrong

Sarah Dunant argues that if we can't agree on wearing masks in a crowded space, this doesn't bode well for our ability to adapt to the monumental changes we'll soon have to make to avert the climate crisis. She reports from the Italian city of Mantova where she finds a rather un-Italian attitude to all of this. Producer: Adele Armstrong

Will Self argues that the car is anything but a source of freedom. While drivers think it gives them the ability to go anywhere, in truth 'they're shackled to a grotesque and Sisyphean go-round: they have to make the money, to pay for the car, to sit in the traffic jam, to make the money to pay for the car'. Producer: Adele Armstrong

"Who owns a story?" asks Adam Gopnik. "The storyteller? The subject? Or do all stories in some sense own themselves?" Adam explores the drama being played out in the US in two stories of feuding writers, caught up in the ethics of artistic appropriation. Producer: Adele Armstrong

"In the 1880s," writes Sara Wheeler, "the scientific community began to recognise and categorise neurodiversity." We've come a long way since then, she says. But there's a long way to go. And as neurological research presses on, she argues that we, as a society, must try to keep up with its findings. Producer: Adele Armstrong

David Goodhart discusses why integration is a permanent dilemma for multi-ethnic societies. And he wonders whether, "if there is no solution to the issues that it throws up, then not talking about it much might be a rational strategy". Or, he asks, is that too complacent? Producer: Adele Armstrong

"Tomorrow's world," writes Zia Haider Rahman, "will be shaped still more by finance, tech, and the minds of the mathematically disposed." He argues that we ignore maths at our peril. Producer: Adele Armstrong

In the aftermath of the recent report on religious groups in the UK carried out by the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse, Rebecca Stott ponders the tension between defending the right to religious freedom and defending the rights of the child. "Maybe it is time," she writes, "to admit that closed, highly-controlling environments , that refuse or escape scrutiny in the name of religious t...

As thousands of Afghan refugees look to make their home in the UK, Michael Morpurgo tells the story of one child refugee, Little Amal. "Surely," he argues, "just as we now fully acknowledge our global responsibility to restore the world about us, the world we ourselves have damaged, so we must play our part as one of the richest nations on earth, to welcome in as many refugees as we can, to give t...

John Gray on how former British Prime Minister, Arthur Balfour, identified a weakness in the idea that science and faith are opposites. "Beyond our narrow corner of things, there may be limitless possibilities, or else primordial chaos," he writes. "Our belief in the uniformity of nature is not a result but a presupposition of science - in other words, an act of faith." Producer: Adele Armstrong

Sara Wheeler looks at the emotional power of food. "It's regrettable", she writes, "that the link between food and happiness has been broken by the epidemic of obesity that bedevils the developed world." Producer: Adele Armstrong

'I don't want to find an eight-part drama more interesting than my life', writes Zoe Strimpel. Zoe reflects on the power of TV as a coping mechanism at the height of the COVID pandemic. But she argues that the creep of the on-screen narrative must now be slowed down in order for us to fully re-engage with our lives. Producer: Adele Armstrong

Rebecca Stott responds to the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. And she reflects on how our ancestors dealt with dramatic weather events - and the gods they believed were responsible. "Our ancestors would have sacrificed everything they owned to appease those gods.....they would have prayed together, sacrificed together". "But what," she wonders, "will we in the wes...

Adam Gopnik reflects on the ever-increasing accessibility of the past. He ponders what effect it has when "everything in the world that we can ever remember, everything that has accidentally haunted our imaginations for even a moment" is available online. Producer: Adele Armstrong

Howard Jacobson turns his thoughts to the unlikely subject of present wrapping. He delves into "Expectation Disconfirmation Theory" which, he claims, "will explain why you are less happy than you ever thought you'd be with your new trainers, and more happy than you ever expected you'd be listening to this programme!" Producer: Adele Armstrong

'In the dog days of the pandemic,' writes John Connell, 'I decided the place to recharge my spirit was the mountains and oceans of Ireland's west coast.' John sets off in the footsteps of the famous Irish monk and journeyman, St Brendan, in an attempt to recover a sense of 'wonder'. Producer: Adele Armstrong

Bernardine Evaristo argues that the racist abuse levelled at England players after the final of the Euros has troubling ramifications. She says it's the kind of "vile, in-yer-face bile many of us thought we'd left behind decades ago." The essay contains very strong racist language. Producer: Adele Armstrong

'I object to the demotion of the noble art of indoor swimming,' writes Sara Wheeler, 'in the current frenzy to leap into the nearest river.' Sara explains why she has little time for the new fad of wild swimming and sings the praises of those gorgeous pools that sprang up around the UK from the nineteenth century. Producer: Adele Armstrong

Tom Shakespeare argues that red tape should be regarded as a force for good. From Charles Dickens' famous mention of red tape until today, making fun of red tape has been virtually a national pastime. But Tom cautions that as Britain prepares to set aside rules and regulations surrounding COVID, we shouldn't act too hastily. Producer: Adele Armstrong

Niall Ferguson argues that a post-pandemic 'Roaring Twenties' is far from certain. 'There are good reasons to doubt that the 2020s will be roaring in any sense at all, good or bad', he writes. 'Rather the remainder of the decade may prove distinctly boring.' Reflecting on his own teenage boredom, he believes - for young people - a boring decade would be the biggest disappointment of all. Producer:...

Zoe Strimpel argues that the culture war is no fake or proxy war - but rather ideas about what is acceptable to know, to teach and to think. Thirty years after the US sociologist James Davison Hunter wrote his book 'Culture Wars: The Struggle to Define America', Zoe looks at how those ideas are playing out around the world today. 'There is a sense of menace about,' she writes, 'of pent-up, complic...

"To locate Zionism's origins," argues Howard Jacobson, "we must leave historical for spiritual time." Howard ponders whether a hint of the tragic world view would change perceptions today in the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. Producer: Adele Armstrong

Bernardine Evaristo argues that, as we move out of lockdown and rebuild our creative infrastructure, we must cherish the country's arts culture. She criticises disinvestment in the arts and the notion that school children should be, at every stage of their education, steered towards science and maths subjects. 'Creativity infuses every aspect of society and how we function as human beings,' she wr...

Sara Wheeler rereads her youthful diaries and ponders lessons learned. 'Discarding perished rubber bands that once sheaved the slim volumes,' Sara writes, 'I read the story of my own life.' She wonders if accepting and understanding the past can help us escape 'the three rs of lived experience - regret, remorse and recrimination.' Producer: Adele Armstrong

'I have to concede: I am a fervent eavesdropper', writes Will Self. He ponders eavesdropping etiquette, the hard and fast rules of the game, and whether - in our straitened times - there can be any future for the eavesdropper. Producer: Adele Armstrong