Arts & Ideas

If Mrs Thatcher thought she was living again through Victorian England, we are now living through the eighteenth century. This special edition of Free Thinking explores London as the centre of the world then and now, financial bubbles bursting then and now, and the lust for consumption then and now, whether of bodies or bodices. Philip Dodd brings together the MP and author Kwasi Kwarteng, histori...

Naomi Alderman, Geoff Mulgan and Lionel Bently join Philip Dodd to explore the ever-changing meaning of Originality. Nicholas Penny, director of the National Gallery, discusses the meaning of greatness in art in front of the new exhibition - Veronese: Magnificence in Renaissance Venice. And as Simon Stephens's new play Birdland opens, the playwright talks inspirations, death and originality.

Matthew Sweet discusses the silent film star Betty Balfour with BFI curator Byony Dixon and comedian Lucy Porter and interviews Dutch novelist Peter Buwalda and James Lovelock.

Anne McElvoy looks at the impact of war, the Afghan elections and childhood violence. She's joined by Professor Hew Strachan and Ian Morris. Film critic Charlotte O Sullivan has been watching 'I Declare War,' Jason Lapeyre and Robert Wilson's film about childhood games which turn sour. And in the week that the British Command handed over to the Americans in Helmand province, Noorjahan Akbar and Ha...

Matthew Sweet explores the idea of the police with the playwright Roy Williams, the Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police, Sara Thornton, the historian Kate Colquhoun and the film maker and criminologist Roger Graef.

Design Museum director Deyan Sudjic and curators Hans-Ulrich Obrist and Victoria Walsh join Anne McElvoy to discuss the display of art and design. As Prospect magazine launches the long list for its poll of World Thinkers for 2014, Serena Kutchinsky, Digital Editor of Prospect, joins Anne to debate what makes a leading intellectual. And lawyer and political activist Raja Shehadeh outlines the argu...

Damon Galgut's new book Arctic Summer evokes EM Forster's experiences in India and the inspiration Forster found there. Galgut joins Rana Mitter and a panel of guests including Tariq Ali and Alex Clark to explore the writing and career of EM Forster in a programme live from Radio 3's pop-up studio at London's Southbank Centre.

Akira Kurosawa's 1954 film Seven Samurai traces the story of a group of Samurai who are hired to prevent thieves stealing the crops from a farming village in 1587. It regularly appears on polls of the greatest films of world cinema. Matthew Sweet is joined for a discussion of this Landmark of culture by Professor Ian Christie, critic Larushka Ivan-Zadeh, writer SF Said and Dr Alexander Jacoby. The...

Author and design consultant Stephen Bayley has written an e-book called Charm: A Victim's Guide. He joins Philip Dodd for a discussion on the pros and cons of charm with Rachel Johnson, novelist AL Kennedy and PR expert Mark Borkowski - from Castiglione's The Book of The Courtier to its role in politics, public life and modern middle management techniques. The programme was broadcasted from a pop...

Frank Field MP, child psychiarist Dickon Bevington and authors Meg Rosoff and Philip Ridley join Philip Dodd for a discussion about different aspects of childhood. The programme was broadcasted live from a pop-up studio at London's Southbank Centre space in the Royal Festival Hall Riverside Café area.

Historian Archie Brown and military expert Frank Ledwidge join Samira Ahmed to discuss whether strong leaders undermine rather than enhance the possibility of good leadership. Neurosurgeon Henry Marsh talks about making life-or-death decisions in the operating theatre. And Susannah Clapp and novelist Nicola Upson review Blithe Spirit, which sees Angela Lansbury return to the London stage. Broadcas...

American authors Jonathan Lethem and Gary Shteyngart discuss radicalism, belonging and why being 'American' is no longer enough.

Philip Dodd chairs a discussion between Terry Farrell, Norman Foster, Nicholas Grimshaw, Michael and Patty Hopkins and Richard Rogers recorded at RIBA. These architects have come together to share a public platform as part of the Brits Who Built The Modern World Season of events which has included the opening of a new gallery at RIBA, an exhibition at the V and A and a BBC Four TV series.

David Grossman's new book Falling Out of Time mixes poetry, drama and fiction to explore grief and loss. His own son died in 2006. Matthew Sweet spoke to him when he was in London during Jewish Book Week.

Richard Mabey discusses his biography of Flora Thompson, author of Lark Rise to Candleford, and choreographer Richard Alston joins Anne McElvoy on the eve of Radio 3's Ravel Day. Plus there’s a discussion about the ongoing fascination with ruins; whether a picturesque castle ruin glimpsed through the mist or the eerie photographs of an abandoned Detroit. Anne talks to the curator of a new exhibiti...

Philip Dodd in conversation with artist and film-maker Julian Schnabel, best known for creating a series of paintings on broken ceramic plates as well as directing films, including The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Before Night Falls, and a biopic of the painter Basquiat. Michael Goldfarb, the author of Emancipation, How Liberating Europe's Jews from the Ghetto Led to Revolution and Renaissance,...

Matthew Sweet visits the British Museum's Vikings exhibition with the curator Gareth Williams and Radio 3 New Generation Thinker Dr Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough from Durham University. Lincoln Paine discusses his history of navigation and seafaring 'Sea and Civilization'. Plus Captain M.K.Barritt, author of An Artist in the Channel Fleet, looks at the Napoleonic War artist John Thomas Serres.

Amy Chua and Jed Rubenfeld talk about the impact of education and religion on success and Anne McElvoy has a first night review of Peter Gill's new play Versailles from historian David Reynolds. Plus Spitting Image is 30 years old, the series'€™ original producer John Lloyd, the Labour politician Alan Johnson and editor of the satirical website The Daily Mash, Tim Telling talk about its legacy.

Film director Wim Wenders and Australian philosopher Mary Zournazi explain why they believe we need a new visual and moral language for peace. Richard King outlines why he believes taking offence has become a political tactic.

As Dirty Rotten Scoundrels becomes a musical, Samira Ahmed considers the scoundrel with historian of literature Nandini Das and novelist Nick Harkaway. Danny Dorling talks about the UK housing crisis. Plus we report on the winner of this year's Paul Foot Award for campaigning or investigative journalism.

Anne McElvoy looks at the relationship between France and its former colonies, talking to David Bellos about his translation of a classic novel depicting the Algerian War, and to Andrew Hussey, whose new book is about "the Long War Between France and Its Arabs" and to Dr Karima Laachir from SOAS at the University of London. Professor Tim Birkhead talks to Anne about his new book and research into...

Charlie Chaplin's City Lights is ranked by The American Film Institute as one of the best American films ever made. To mark the centenary of Chaplin's iconic tramp character, Matthew Sweet discusses City Lights with comedian Lucy Porter, actor Paul McGann, film maker and historian Kevin Brownlow, and Chaplin's biographer David Robinson. Recorded in front of a live audience at the Watershed Arts Ce...

Shelagh Delaney wrote A Taste of Honey when she was 18. First performed in 1958, a new National Theatre production stars Lesley Sharp and Kate O'Flynn. Oxford historian Selina Todd has a first night review. Anthony Little, headmaster of Eton College discusses class, tradition and teaching manhood. And discussing the pivotal notion of self-worth in terms of achieving social mobility are Douglas Mur...

To mark the death of cultural historian Stuart Hall, another chance to hear his extended conversation with Philip Dodd, which was first broadcast in December 2004.

Ofsted chair Sally Morgan and Tim Montgomerie debate Ed Miliband's speech about parent power with Anne McElvoy. Bidisha and Rebecca Mead discuss literary heroines as role models. German artist Georg Baselitz discusses his artistic career as his work goes on show in two London Galleries. And literary depictions of flooding. What books you might want to avoid reading if you are faced with rising wat...