Anne McElvoy looks at what happened to the Arab Spring five years on, talking to Egyptian novelist Alaa Al-Aswany - whose new novel is called The Automobile Club of Egypt - and to satirist and critic Karl Sharro. They will be joined by Lebanese actress Sahar Assaf talking about performing in Dario Fo and Franca Rame's monologue An Arab Woman Speaks.
Also in the programme, Owen Hatherley discusses his latest book The Ministry of Nostalgia.
And, lexicographer Tony Thorne and writer Hannah Jane Parkinson discuss how social media is affecting language.
The English premiere of Dario Fo and Franca Rame's An Arab Woman Speaks is on at the New Diorama Theatre in London until 6th February.
Producer: Luke Mulhall
Arts & Ideas