Thinking Allowed Folgen

FOOD, IDENTITY AND NATION - At a time when many of us are feeling overstuffed by festive eating, Laurie Taylor asks why food matters. He’s joined by Paul Freedman, Chester D. Tripp Professor of History at Yale University, who explores food’s relationship to our sense of self, as well as to inequality and the environment. Joy Fraser, Adjunct Professor in the Department of Folklore at Memorial University, Newfoundland, Canada, also joins the conversation. She asks why Scottishness has so often been signified, in a derogatory way, through food - from haggis to the deep-fried Mars bar. Does it say something about the relationship between England and Scotland? Producer: Jayne Egerton

The value of things: At a time when many of us are sorting through Christmas presents, both wanted and unwanted, Laurie Taylor explores the value of attachment in a disposable world. Christine Harold, Professor of Communication at the University of Washington, asks why we hang on to certain objects and discard others. How might our emotional investment in things be harnessed to create less wasteful practices? Also, clutter in our homes, from the meaningless to the meaningful. Sophie Woodward, Professor of Sociology at the University of Manchester, challenges the moralistic view of clutter, one which sees it as a sign of individual failure to organise one’s domestic life. Instead, she argues, it is central to the ways we negotiate and manage our intimate relationships.Producer: Jayne Egerton

Covid: Laurie Taylor explores the financial impact of the coronavirus & asks if it represents an opportunity, as well as a crisis. He's joined by Lisa Suckert, Senior Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies in Cologne, whose recent study examines the way in which the pandemic has disrupted our sense of time and the temporal logic of the capitalist economy. Also, Adam Tooze, Shelby Cullom Davis chair of History at Columbia University, considers the shockwaves unleashed by the shutdown of the global economy. Will they yield any positive changes to our way of life?Producer: Jayne Egerton