Arts & Ideas Folgen

Rana Mitter talks to conductor and music blogger Kenneth Woods to bust some popular Mahler myths. Actor Nicholas Boulton reads extracts from his passionate and sometimes monstrous letters to Alma. The stormy angst-ridden man of popular perception had a very different side to him according to Kenneth and a rare audio recording provides a chance to hear a first-hand account of what he was like from a musician who actually worked under him. Recorded in front of an audience at the Royal College of Music as the first of this year's Literary Proms Plus events.

In conversation with Anne McElvoy, Boris Johnson discusses leadership ambitions, what Cicero has to teach us about politics, and why a politician should sometimes dare to be dull. Sarah Frankcom tells Anne why she and Maxine Peake are reviving Shelley's poetic account of the Peterloo Massacre of 1819. New Generation Thinker John Gallagher guides the listener on a romp through 16th century phrasebooks for travellers. And writer Tim Lott and critic Kate Muir discuss depictions of holidays gone wrong in film.

Rana Mitter chairs a debate from the York Festival of Ideas on whether we can afford ethical business. The panel includes The Guardian's Lucy Siegle, Adrian Wooldridge of The Economist, founder of Ethical Superstore Andy Redfern and economist Virginie Perotin. As austerity bites into family finances and public services, cheap goods seem ever more attractive, even vital. But is there a price to pay in fairness, and to the environment? York has a long history of making ethical business ideals a reality, but can those ideas be carried forward into the era of austerity?