From taking the middle ground to the mid-life crisis, Middle England to middle managers, to being a middle child - is occupying a position in the middle out of fashion?Anne McElvoy hosts Radio 4's ideas discussion programme and her guests this week for a middling conversation are:Journalist Catherine Carr. Her new book Who's the Favourite?: The Loving, Messy Realities of Sibling Relationships explores being a middle child and the relevance of birth orderWriter and broadcaster Mark Lawson, who has written novels set in middle EnglandSymeon Brown, home affairs correspondent at Channel 4 news, whose forthcoming book is The Good, the Black and the Boujee: The Story of Britain's New Black Middle ClassAdrian Wooldridge, journalist, author and Global Business Columnist at Bloomberg Opinion. His recent book is entitled Centrists of the World Unite! The Lost Genius of Liberalism.andClaire Ainsley, former adviser to Keir Starmer, now at the Progressive Policy Institute.Producer: Eliane Glaser
Kultur & GesellschaftTalk
Arts & Ideas Folgen
Leading thinkers discuss the ideas shaping our lives – looking back at the news and making links between past and present. Broadcast as Free Thinking, Fridays at 9pm on BBC Radio 4. Presented by Matthew Sweet, Shahidha Bari and Anne McElvoy.
Folgen von Arts & Ideas
2000 Folgen
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Folge vom 08.05.2026The Middle
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Folge vom 01.05.2026Weapons, real and symbolicHow do weapons exert real and symbolic power, both now and in history?Joining Matthew Sweet in Radio 4's round table discussion programme about ideas are:The former soldier and politician Tobias EllwoodThe sculptor Hew Locke, whose artworks exploring colonial power have featured weaponryThe Renaissance historian Catherine Fletcher, whose latest book is The Firearm Revolution: From Renaissance Italy to the European EmpiresThe historian and broadcaster Mark Urban, whose books include Tank and RiflesandHailey Austin, Lecturer in Visual Media and Culture at Abertay University who researches comics and videogames.Producer: Eliane Glaser
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Folge vom 01.05.2026Weapons, real and symbolicHow do weapons exert real and symbolic power, both now and in history?Joining Matthew Sweet are:The former soldier and politician Tobias EllwoodThe sculptor Hew Locke, whose artworks exploring colonial power have featured weaponryThe Renaissance historian Catherine Fletcher, whose latest book is The Firearm Revolution: From Renaissance Italy to the European EmpiresThe historian and broadcaster Mark Urban, whose books include Tank and RiflesandHailey Austin, Lecturer in Visual Media and Culture at Abertay University who researches comics and videogames.Producer: Eliane Glaser
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Folge vom 24.04.2026PurityFrom spiritual cleanliness to purity spirals: Matthew Sweet is joined by guests including David Aaronovitch; Catherine Coldstream, author of Cloistered – My Years as a Nun; Linda Woodhead, Professor of the Sociology of Religion at King's College, University of London; Izabella Scott, author of The Bed Trick; and Louise Brangan, author of The Fallen: The Magdalene Laundries and Ireland’s Legacy of Silence. They’ll be discussing ideas of purity in political ideology, religion, anthropology and the experiences of teenage girls.Producer Luke Mulhall