Arts & Ideas

Dr Dan Taylor, Spinoza scholar; Ceri Sullivan, Shakespeare and Renaissance expert; Aaron Reeves, sociologist of elites; Sir Robert Buckland, former Lord Chancellor and barrister; Lamorna Ash, writer on contemporary Christian life. They debate humility as inward virtue, ritual and religious practice, Spinoza’s critique, performative ordinariness by elites, and humility’s role in politics and public service.

Stephen Batchelor, secular Buddhist teacher and writer, on oral transmission and listening practices. Reetika Subramanian, researcher and podcaster, on women’s work songs as environmental archives. Tom F. Wright, historian of rhetoric, on teaching oracy and memory. Philip Collins, former speechwriter, on political speechcraft and persuasion. Edith Hall, classics professor, on ancient rhetoric and the somatic voice. They discuss orality, rhythm, public speaking and oral archives.

Le Gateau Chocolat, an opera singer and performer, reflects on opera spaces, race and live reception. Emma Dabiri, writer and broadcaster, explores culture, race and beauty politics. John Callanan, Kant scholar, outlines philosophical views on aesthetic judgment. Sarah Smith, film historian, examines film canons, gender and criticism. They debate taste, style versus substance, class, race and AI's role in shaping aesthetics.

In a special programme looking ahead to International Women’s Day on March 8th, Shahidha Bari looks at how women express themselves in language, argument, poetry and art. Her guests include:Sara Ahmed is the author of No is Not a Lonely Utterance Karen McCarthy Woolf's latest poetry collection is called Unsafe Lauren Elkin's books include Art Monsters: Unruly Bodies in Feminist Art, she translated Simone de Beauvoir's previously-unpublished novel The Inseparables and has a new book coming out in May Vocal Break: On Women, Music, and Power. She has been reading the new translation by Sophie Lewis of Angst by the French feminist thinker Hélène Cixous Mary Wellesley is a historian and author of Hidden Hands: The Lives of Manuscripts and Their Makers Ash Percival-Borley, military historian and former soldierProducer: Luke Mulhall

Tom Simpson, Oxford professor of values and public policy; Peter Hyman, former headteacher and political adviser; Sophie Scott-Brown, philosopher and historian of anarchism; Martin Gurri, ex-CIA analyst on media and politics; Justine Greening, former education secretary on social mobility. They debate authority’s forms, how the internet and big tech have unsettled institutions, schooling discipline versus autonomy, and how leaders or institutions can regain legitimacy.

Jonathan Sumption, former Supreme Court judge and medieval historian; Stephen Shapiro, cultural historian versed in Foucault; Joanna Hardy-Susskind, criminal defence barrister and broadcaster; Scout Tzofiya Bolton, poet with lived prison experience; Stephanie Brown, criminologist researching medieval justice. They compare medieval community-based investigations with modern courts. They debate public spectacle versus surveillance, prison failures and alternatives, and how media shapes punishment.

Ian La Frenais, veteran TV writer whose credits include The Likely Lads and Porridge, reflects on writing and working-class characters. Samuel Johnson-Schlee, historian of domestic life, links central heating and home changes to sitcom worlds. Laura Minor, TV historian, explores shifting portrayals of class. Jacqueline Riding, Chaplin scholar, traces Lambeth roots. Adelle Stripe, novelist, shares contemporary working-class perspectives.

Lea Ypi, philosopher and author reflecting on Rousseau and cosmopolitanism. Margaret MacMillan, historian of diplomacy and international order. Hugo Drochon, political historian of elites and democracy. Angie Hobbs, classical philosopher on Plato and justice. They debate Thucydides, Plato, Hobbes, Rousseau and Kant, trace international law and institutions, and consider modern power, legitimacy and resistance.

Helen Charman, historian of motherhood; Beth Mallory, linguist of pregnancy language; Corinne Low, economist of reproductive capital; Patrick Foulis, economic journalist; John Callanan, philosopher on Mandeville. They discuss meanings of productivity, invisible domestic labour, how childbirth language shapes care, Mandeville’s influence on economic thought, AI’s promise, and debates over valuing home production.

Clare Carlisle, philosopher of selfhood; Lawrence Scott, commentator on digital persona; Peter Parker, historian of queer life; Ashleigh Percival-Borleigh, military historian of wartime cover identities; Ruth Wilson, actress who uncovered her grandfather's secret lives. They trace wartime cover stories, hidden mid‑century families, online personas and theatrical performance. Short, sharp conversations on concealment, performance and divided lives.