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Free Thinking Episodes

  1.

    Designing the future

    Shahidha Bari looks at Enid Marx, Rennie Mackintosh and Edward Bawden and visits the V&A.

  2. John Gray, Atheism and Post-structuralism

    Matthew Sweet looks at French philosophy and spies and explores belief with John Gray.

  3. What is Speech?

    Matthew Sweet and guests discuss talking and speech, including Trevor Cox.

  4. Charms: Madeline Miller; Zoe Gilbert; Kirsty Logan

    Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough on the renewal of myth, folk and fairy in modern writing.

  5. Out of control?

    Anne McElvoy looks at why we fight, with former army officer Dr Mike Martin.

  6. Disrupted Childhood. Turkish Star Wars

    Pauline Dakin compares notes with Sally Bayley about a childhood on the run and reading.

  7. Marxism

    Anne Applebaum, Gregory Claeys, Jane Humphries and Richard Seymour discuss Marxism now.

  8. America: Inequality & Race

    Jesmyn Ward, John Edgar Wideman and Sarah Churchwell talk to Christopher Harding.

  9. Tokyo Idols and Urban life

    Tomoyuki Hoshino, Suzanne Mooney, Mariko Nagai and Kyoko Miyake on representing city life.

  10. Landmark: Rashomon

    David Peace and Natasha Pulley look at the writing of Akutagawa and the film by Kurosawa.

  11. Japan and Nature

    The photographs of Mika Ninagawa and the new novel from Hideo Yokoyama, with Anne McElvoy.

  12. Learning from Sweden

    From IKEA to Bergman and ABBA - Matthew Sweet looks at Sweden's impact on Britain.

  13. Shakespeare, Creativity and the Role of the Writer

    Warwickshire words in the Bard's verse + the real Cleopatra. And playwright Ella Hickson.

  14. The Politics of Fashion and Drag

    Shahidha Bari talks to Jenny Gilbert about fashion & Scrumbly Koldewyn about The Cockettes

  15. Marilynne Robinson

    The American novelist and essayist talks religion, fiction & US politics with Rana Mitter.

  16. Macbeth and Things Fall Apart

    Jo Nesbø and Mark Ravenhill on the Scottish Play; Chinua Achebe's novel about leadership.

  17. British New Wave Films of the '60s

    Matthew Sweet evaluates the legacy of the film company behind A Taste of Honey & The Knack

  19. New Research into the UK Women's Suffrage Movement

    Helen Pankhurst, Jane Robinson, Fern Riddell and others discuss women's suffrage.

  20. Landmark: The Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing

    Lara Feigel, David Aaronovitch, Melissa Benn, Xiaolu Guo, Matthew Sweet on Doris Lessing.

  21. A Sentimental Journey

    Sean Williams rereads Laurence Sterne's subjective travel book and talks to Philip Hensher

  22. What Lies Beneath; Neanderthal Cave Art to Fatbergs

    Francis Pryor, Paul Pettitt, Ruth Whitehouse; Sean Borodale; Sharon Robinson-Calver.

  23. How Big Should the State Be?

    David Willetts, Polly Toynbee, Simone Finn, Julia Black, Adrian Wooldridge + Anne McElvoy.

  24. The Joy of Bureaucracy

    Matthew Sweet with guests including Lord Butler, Andre Spicer and Eliane Glaser.

  25. Steven Pinker on Progress

    Steven Pinker explains to Philip Dodd why we should ignore headlines + be more optimistic.

  26. Napoleon in Fact and Fiction

    Anne McElvoy looks at Napoleon impersonators, ballads and what if he didn't die in exile?

  27. Reflecting Rural Life

    Film maker Clio Barnard and novelist Amanda Craig on rural life. Matthew Sweet presents.

  28. Mark Dion; Colour, Insects, Virginia Woolf

    Anne McElvoy meets artist Mark Dion and biologist Menno Schilthuizen.

  29. Michael Ignatieff and Central Europe

    Philip Dodd talks to Michael Ignatieff about the political landscape of central Europe.

  30. Tariq Ali

    Rana Mitter talks to Tariq Ali, novelist, historian and political activist.

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