Arts & Ideas Folgen

Philip Dodd reviews the UK premiere of David Mamet's controversial play Race and discusses its impact and arguments with Susannah Clapp and Kit Davies. Nate Silver is the star statistician who accurately predicted the results of every state in the 2012 US election and tells Philip that every child should study statistics. RB Kitaj talks about his new show at the British Museum. And Philip and guests discuss the moral implications of giving and being grateful.

Anne McElvoy discusses ethics and the law after several politicians have complained recently about tax avoidance by big companies. To discuss are Geoffrey Robertson QC, Mark Littlewood and Angie Hobbs. Australian writer Andrew Upton talks about his sometimes controversial adaptations of classic Russian plays and explains to Anne why he inserted an egg fight into his recent production of Maxim Gorky's Children of the Sun. And writer Philip Hoare explores his fascination and fear of the sea when he talks to Anne about his new book; "The Sea Inside".

Matthew Sweet examines our current and past attitudes to childhood and asks whether nurturing children is something that we should deregulate or attempt to reform. He’s joined by Jay Griffiths, author of Kith - in which she argues that children in Brazilian rain forests are happier than those in Western cities, Hugh Cunningham, historian and author of the Invention of Childhood, sociologist Frank Furedi, who coined the phrase paranoid parenting, Gabriel Gbadamosi, Irish-Nigerian poet, playwright and Carnegie medal winner Meg Rosoff who writes fiction for children and young adults.