Arts & Ideas Folgen

In 1714 Bernard de Mandeville published his provocative Fable of the Bees, in which he explored the relationship between morality and economic wealth. As part of Radio 3's 18th Century season of programming, Matthew Sweet chairs a discussion with the Natural History Museum's Dr Erica McAlister, Southampton University economic historian Dr Helen Paul, finance journalist and presenter of BBC Radio 4's Money Box Paul Lewis and Stephen Davies, Education Director at the Institute of Economic Affairs. They reflect on Mandeville's fable and how it relates to economics and the organisation of society today.

Anne McElvoy talks to Surveyor of the Queen's Pictures Desmond Shawe-Taylor and historians Amanda Foreman, StellaTillyard and Jeremy Black about 18th century monarchy and power.

If Mrs Thatcher thought she was living again through Victorian England, we are now living through the eighteenth century. This special edition of Free Thinking explores London as the centre of the world then and now, financial bubbles bursting then and now, and the lust for consumption then and now, whether of bodies or bodices. Philip Dodd brings together the MP and author Kwasi Kwarteng, historians Helen Berry, Jerry White and AN Wilson and playwright April De Angelis for a discussion which is part of BBC Radio 3's eighteenth century season of programming.