Start the Week Folgen

On Start the Week Tom Sutcliffe talks to the American writer Jonathan Franzen about his latest novel, Purity. One of Franzen's characters compares the internet with the East German Republic and he satirises the utopian ideas of the apparatchik web-users. The head of the Oxford Internet Institute Helen Margetts counters with her research on the success and failure of political action via social media. The artist Tacita Dean laments the ubiquity of digital at the expense of film, and the financial journalist Gillian Tett roots out tunnel vision - both personal and business - in her new book on silos. Producer: Katy Hickman.

On Start the Week Mary Ann Sieghart explores how far leaders and governments have shaped our world. Matt Ridley dismisses the assumption that history has been made by those on high, whether in government, business or religion, and argues for a system of evolution in which ideas and events develop from the bottom up. The historian Tom Holland revels in the antics of the house of Caesar, from Augustus to Nero, and how this imperial family greatly influenced the ancient world. Barry Cunliffe tells the story of the beginnings of civilisation across Europe and the Far East over the course of ten millennia while the curator Julia Farley concentrates on one of those groups - the Celts - and celebrates their distinctive stylised art in a new exhibition at the British Museum. Producer: Katy Hickman.

Start the Week returns for a new series with a discussion about cultural exchange. Andrew Marr talks to the potter Edmund de Waal about his fascination with porcelain. De Waal's journey to understand the history and secrets of 'white gold' takes him from China to Europe and the USA. From white pots to multi-coloured: the contemporary Chinese artist Ai Weiwei mounts an exhibition at the Royal Academy; co-curator Tim Marlow explores his cultural significance. The poet Annie Freud takes inspiration from shards of pottery found in her garden for her collection, The Remains. Producer: Katy Hickman.