The Reith Lectures

Professor Michael Sandel delivers four lectures about the prospects of a new politics of the common good. The series is presented and chaired by Sue Lawley. Sandel considers the role of moral argument in politics. He believes that it is often not possible for government to be neutral on moral questions and calls for a more engaged civic debate about issues such as commercial surrogacy and same-sex...

Michael Sandel, Harvard Professor of Government, delivers four lectures about the prospects of a new politics of the common good. The series is presented and chaired by Sue Lawley. Sandel considers the expansion of markets and how we determine their moral limits. Should immigrants, for example, pay for citizenship? Should we pay schoolchildren for good test results, or even to read a book? He call...

Chinese Vistas: Jonathan Spence lectures about China. Recorded at Lord's cricket ground. Spence discusses how Chinese ideas of sport and athleticism have slowly evolved over the centuries, from languorous courtship and formalised martial arts to the demanding arenas of team sports and the ultimate Olympic challenges that China will controversially host in August.

Chinese Vistas: Jonathan Spence lectures about China. Recorded at The Asia Society in New York. Spence explores the two centuries in which the United States gradually moved from its position as a dominant beacon of freedom and democracy for China, to becoming a more demanding global rival during and since World War II. Is America right to be wary of the emerging superpower or can the two economic...

Jonathan Spence lectures about China. Spence examines China's relations with the United Kingdom through three centuries of trade, warfare, unequal treaties and missionary endeavours that shaped their mutual perceptions.

Chinese Vistas: In a lecture recorded at the British Library in London, Jonathan Spence reflects on China's most enduring thinker, Confucius. Who was this man, what did he believe in, and what contemporary relevance does his message have, nearly 2,500 years after his death? The Confucian message has survived countless attacks and is being recycled by the Chinese Communist leadership today.

Jeffrey Sachs delivers the last of five lectures. He calls for a new Enlightenment to help make globalisation work for all and lays out a blueprint for global co-operation.

Jeffrey Sachs delivers the fourth of five lectures. He considers the challenges of extreme poverty and the worry of the developed world which fears for its own prosperity.

Jeffrey Sachs delivers the third of five lectures from the Earth Institute at Columbia University, New York. He talks about the need for international co-operation.

Jeffrey Sachs delivers the second lecture from the University in Beijing. He discusses China's emergence as an economic superpower and asks what this means for the challenges ahead.

Jeffrey Sachs delivers the first of five lectures, recorded at The Royal Society, London. Sachs outlines the challenges facing mankind and argues that we must adapt to the new age.

This year's lecturer is Daniel Barenboim, who has become known as one of the most versatile pianists of his generation. His skill as a conductor and a musician has led him to world recognition and the appointment as Chief Conductor for Life by the Staatskapelle Berlin. He has also won a Grammy for his recording of Wagner's Tannhäuser and received the Wilhelm Furtwängler Prize for his work with the...

This year's lecturer is Daniel Barenboim, who has become known as one of the most versatile pianists of his generation. His skill as a conductor and a musician has led him to world recognition and the appointment as Chief Conductor for Life by the Staatskapelle Berlin. He has also won a Grammy for his recording of Wagner's Tannhäuser and received the Wilhelm Furtwängler Prize for his work with the...

This year's lecturer is Daniel Barenboim, who has become known as one of the most versatile pianists of his generation. His skill has led him to world recognition and the appointment as Chief Conductor for Life by the Staatskapelle Berlin. He has also won a Grammy for his recording of Wagner's Tannhäuser and received the Wilhelm Furtwängler Prize for his work with the Staatskapelle Berlin. Speakin...

This year's lecturer is Daniel Barenboim, who has become known as one of the most versatile pianists of his generation. His skill as a conductor and a musician has led him to world recognition and the appointment as Chief Conductor for Life by the Staatskapelle Berlin. He has also won a Grammy for his recording of Wagner's Tannhäuser and received the Wilhelm Furtwängler Prize for his work with the...

This year's lecturer is Daniel Barenboim, who has become known as one of the most versatile pianists of his generation. His skill as a musician and a conductor has led him to world recognition and the appointment as Chief Conductor for Life by the Staatskapelle Berlin. He has also won a Grammy for his recording of Wagner's Tannhäuser and received the Wilhelm Furtwängler Prize for his work with the...

This year's Reith Lecturer is the distinguished engineer, Lord Broers. Alec Broers is President of the Royal Academy of Engineering and Chairman of the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee. In his fifth and final lecture, Lord Broers explores the responsibilities of the technologist and questions their role in society. Who regulates technology? Is it up to the individual technologist or...

This year's Reith Lecturer is the distinguished engineer, Lord Broers. He is President of the Royal Academy of Engineering and Chairman of the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee. He was a pioneer of nanotechnology and the first person to use the scanning electron microscope for the fabrication of micro-miniature structures. In his fourth Reith Lecture, Lord Broers examines nanotechnol...

This year's Reith Lecturer is the distinguished engineer, Lord Broers. He is President of the Royal Academy of Engineering and Chairman of the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee. In his third Reith lecture Lord Broers argues that profound changes have taken place in the development of ideas and their translation in to the market place. This innovation revolution demands a new approach...

This year's Reith Lecturer is the distinguished engineer, Lord Broers. He is President of the Royal Academy of Engineering and Chairman of the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee. In the second of his Reith Lectures, Lord Broers explores the origins of modern technologies and argues that global collaboration is essential for success. He argues that advancement must take in to account,...

This year's Reith Lecturer is the distinguished engineer, Lord Broers. Alec Broers is President of the Royal Academy of Engineering and Chairman of the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee. He was a pioneer of nanotechnology and the first person to use the scanning electron microscope for the fabrication of micro-miniature structures. Lord Broers delivers the first of his five Reith Lec...

In his fifth and final Reith Lecture, the Nobel Laureate, playwright, poet and political activist Wole Soyinka examines the causes and impact of fanaticism. When Osama Bin Laden declares that the world is divided between believers and non-believers, it is easy to identify the menace of the fanatical mind but, in what other company can we place George Bush when we hear him declare that 'you are eit...

The Nobel Laureate, playwright, poet and political activist Wole Soyinka explores the notion of dignity within a climate of fear. Even in defeat, negotiating terms of surrender, a defeated nation pleads: 'Leave us something of our dignity'. Denied this little consideration, a doomed struggle is promptly resumed. What exactly is this 'dignity' that even nations enshrine in their constitutions and B...

In his third Reith Lecture, the Nobel Laureate, playwright, poet and political activist Wole Soyinka examines the power of political and religious rhetoric. Between God and Nation, and Sieg Heil, a complex set of social impulses and goals are reduced to mere sound. It is a potent tool that moves to vibrate a collective chord and displace reason. A willed hypnosis substitutes for individual will an...

In his second Reith Lecture, the Nobel Laureate, playwright, poet and political activist Wole Soyinka examines how difficult it can be to tell friend from foe in a climate of fear. Organisations that are set up to overthrow dictatorships can themselves turn into tyrannical regimes. Liberation movements may be forced to seek help from dangerous quarters and these days it is not just countries that...