Arts & Ideas

Matthew Sweet discusses the silent film star Betty Balfour with BFI curator Byony Dixon and comedian Lucy Porter and interviews Dutch novelist Peter Buwalda and James Lovelock.

Anne McElvoy looks at the impact of war, the Afghan elections and childhood violence. She's joined by Professor Hew Strachan and Ian Morris. Film critic Charlotte O Sullivan has been watching 'I Declare War,' Jason Lapeyre and Robert Wilson's film about childhood games which turn sour. And in the week that the British Command handed over to the Americans in Helmand province, Noorjahan Akbar and Hamdullah Mohib talk about what has happened to their culture and society in Afghanistan over that time and what might change with national elections at the week-end.

Matthew Sweet explores the idea of the police with the playwright Roy Williams, the Chief Constable of Thames Valley Police, Sara Thornton, the historian Kate Colquhoun and the film maker and criminologist Roger Graef.

Design Museum director Deyan Sudjic and curators Hans-Ulrich Obrist and Victoria Walsh join Anne McElvoy to discuss the display of art and design. As Prospect magazine launches the long list for its poll of World Thinkers for 2014, Serena Kutchinsky, Digital Editor of Prospect, joins Anne to debate what makes a leading intellectual. And lawyer and political activist Raja Shehadeh outlines the arguments he will be putting forward in this year's Edward Said London Lecture: Is there a Language of Peace? The programme was broadcasted from a pop-up studio at London's Southbank Centre where Radio 3 is broadcasting live every day for two weeks.

Damon Galgut's new book Arctic Summer evokes EM Forster's experiences in India and the inspiration Forster found there. Galgut joins Rana Mitter and a panel of guests including Tariq Ali and Alex Clark to explore the writing and career of EM Forster in a programme live from Radio 3's pop-up studio at London's Southbank Centre.

Akira Kurosawa's 1954 film Seven Samurai traces the story of a group of Samurai who are hired to prevent thieves stealing the crops from a farming village in 1587. It regularly appears on polls of the greatest films of world cinema. Matthew Sweet is joined for a discussion of this Landmark of culture by Professor Ian Christie, critic Larushka Ivan-Zadeh, writer SF Said and Dr Alexander Jacoby. The programme was broadcasted from a pop-up studio at London's Southbank Centre where Radio 3 is broadcasting live every day for two weeks.

Author and design consultant Stephen Bayley has written an e-book called Charm: A Victim's Guide. He joins Philip Dodd for a discussion on the pros and cons of charm with Rachel Johnson, novelist AL Kennedy and PR expert Mark Borkowski - from Castiglione's The Book of The Courtier to its role in politics, public life and modern middle management techniques. The programme was broadcasted from a pop-up studio at London's Southbank Centre where Radio 3 is broadcasting live every day for two weeks.

Frank Field MP, child psychiarist Dickon Bevington and authors Meg Rosoff and Philip Ridley join Philip Dodd for a discussion about different aspects of childhood. The programme was broadcasted live from a pop-up studio at London's Southbank Centre space in the Royal Festival Hall Riverside Café area.

Historian Archie Brown and military expert Frank Ledwidge join Samira Ahmed to discuss whether strong leaders undermine rather than enhance the possibility of good leadership. Neurosurgeon Henry Marsh talks about making life-or-death decisions in the operating theatre. And Susannah Clapp and novelist Nicola Upson review Blithe Spirit, which sees Angela Lansbury return to the London stage. Broadcast from the pop-up studio at London's Southbank Centre where Radio 3 is broadcasting live all day every day for the last two weeks of March.

American authors Jonathan Lethem and Gary Shteyngart discuss radicalism, belonging and why being 'American' is no longer enough.

Philip Dodd chairs a discussion between Terry Farrell, Norman Foster, Nicholas Grimshaw, Michael and Patty Hopkins and Richard Rogers recorded at RIBA. These architects have come together to share a public platform as part of the Brits Who Built The Modern World Season of events which has included the opening of a new gallery at RIBA, an exhibition at the V and A and a BBC Four TV series.

David Grossman's new book Falling Out of Time mixes poetry, drama and fiction to explore grief and loss. His own son died in 2006. Matthew Sweet spoke to him when he was in London during Jewish Book Week.

Richard Mabey discusses his biography of Flora Thompson, author of Lark Rise to Candleford, and choreographer Richard Alston joins Anne McElvoy on the eve of Radio 3's Ravel Day. Plus there’s a discussion about the ongoing fascination with ruins; whether a picturesque castle ruin glimpsed through the mist or the eerie photographs of an abandoned Detroit. Anne talks to the curator of a new exhibition at Tate Britain and the writer, Amanda Hopkinson.

Philip Dodd in conversation with artist and film-maker Julian Schnabel, best known for creating a series of paintings on broken ceramic plates as well as directing films, including The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Before Night Falls, and a biopic of the painter Basquiat. Michael Goldfarb, the author of Emancipation, How Liberating Europe's Jews from the Ghetto Led to Revolution and Renaissance, considers the life of a pianist Alice Herz-Sommer, the oldest known holocaust survivor who died on 23 Feb 2014 at the age of 110.

Matthew Sweet visits the British Museum's Vikings exhibition with the curator Gareth Williams and Radio 3 New Generation Thinker Dr Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough from Durham University. Lincoln Paine discusses his history of navigation and seafaring 'Sea and Civilization'. Plus Captain M.K.Barritt, author of An Artist in the Channel Fleet, looks at the Napoleonic War artist John Thomas Serres.

Amy Chua and Jed Rubenfeld talk about the impact of education and religion on success and Anne McElvoy has a first night review of Peter Gill's new play Versailles from historian David Reynolds. Plus Spitting Image is 30 years old, the series'€™ original producer John Lloyd, the Labour politician Alan Johnson and editor of the satirical website The Daily Mash, Tim Telling talk about its legacy.

Film director Wim Wenders and Australian philosopher Mary Zournazi explain why they believe we need a new visual and moral language for peace. Richard King outlines why he believes taking offence has become a political tactic.

As Dirty Rotten Scoundrels becomes a musical, Samira Ahmed considers the scoundrel with historian of literature Nandini Das and novelist Nick Harkaway. Danny Dorling talks about the UK housing crisis. Plus we report on the winner of this year's Paul Foot Award for campaigning or investigative journalism.

Anne McElvoy looks at the relationship between France and its former colonies, talking to David Bellos about his translation of a classic novel depicting the Algerian War, and to Andrew Hussey, whose new book is about "the Long War Between France and Its Arabs" and to Dr Karima Laachir from SOAS at the University of London. Professor Tim Birkhead talks to Anne about his new book and research into bird mating systems. And Charlotte Higgins discusses her new book and the lessons we can learn from the reign of the Roman emperor Augustus, who died in AD 14.

Charlie Chaplin's City Lights is ranked by The American Film Institute as one of the best American films ever made. To mark the centenary of Chaplin's iconic tramp character, Matthew Sweet discusses City Lights with comedian Lucy Porter, actor Paul McGann, film maker and historian Kevin Brownlow, and Chaplin's biographer David Robinson. Recorded in front of a live audience at the Watershed Arts Centre as part of the Bristol Slapstick Festival.

Shelagh Delaney wrote A Taste of Honey when she was 18. First performed in 1958, a new National Theatre production stars Lesley Sharp and Kate O'Flynn. Oxford historian Selina Todd has a first night review. Anthony Little, headmaster of Eton College discusses class, tradition and teaching manhood. And discussing the pivotal notion of self-worth in terms of achieving social mobility are Douglas Murray, Selina Todd and Lindsay Johns. Presented by Philip Dodd.

To mark the death of cultural historian Stuart Hall, another chance to hear his extended conversation with Philip Dodd, which was first broadcast in December 2004.

Ofsted chair Sally Morgan and Tim Montgomerie debate Ed Miliband's speech about parent power with Anne McElvoy. Bidisha and Rebecca Mead discuss literary heroines as role models.German artist Georg Baselitz discusses his artistic career as his work goes on show in two London Galleries. And literary depictions of flooding. What books you might want to avoid reading if you are faced with rising water levels.

Two books published this month include the idea of "the death of God" in their titles: Terry Eagleton's 'Culture And The Death Of God' and Peter Watson's 'The Age Of Nothing: How We Have Sought to Live Since the Death of God'. Both authors join Philip Dodd to discuss what 'the death of God' could mean, along with theologian Elaine Storkey and Roger Scruton, whose forthcoming book 'The Soul Of The World' discusses the expression of religious belief through art.

Spike Jonze's new film Her depicts a writer developing a relationship with his computer operating system. Matthew Sweet and Aleks Krotoski look at what it says about the changing relationship between man and machine as the internet of things develops. Is Big Data the future ? Ian Angell Professor Emeritus at the London School of Economics, historian Tom Holland and Tom Smith discuss our attitude to data past and present. Plus 95 year old Diana Serra Carey - aka Baby Peggy of the silents - remembers Shirley Temple.

Hanif Kureishi's career has included screenplays My Beautiful Launderette, Venus, London Kills Me and The Mother. His novels Intimacy, The Buddha of Suburbia and The Black Album have been adapted for film, TV and theatre. His new novel The Last Word depicts an Indian-born writer of fading reputation whose biography is being written by a younger author. Kureishi talks to Philip Dodd about writing about sex, ageing and drawing a line between autobiography and fiction.

Matthew Sweet revisits Alan Bleasdale's 1986 World War One TV series The Monocled Mutineer inspired by life of soldier Percy Toplis. He talks to Paul McGann who played the soldier in the series and academics Julian Putkowski and Richard Drayton. Philosopher Roman Krznaric wants to launch an empathy revolution. He is being joined by an author Sheri Fink and Professor Jan Slaby.

As International Monetary Fund Director Christine Lagarde gives this year’s Dimbleby Lecture, Anne McElvoy asks seasoned Lagarde watchers Gillian Tett and Ngaire Woods to analyse her performance and to reflect on whether her growing personal mythology is enough to alter the reputation of the oft-criticised organisation she fronts. Google CEO Eric Schmidt recently said “how ever many entrepreneurs you think you need, it isn’t enoughâ€* to cope with the world’s challenges. But entrepreneurs are often portrayed as greedy and ruthless in films like The Wolf of Wall Street. Luke Johnson and Mariana Mazzucato consider where the truth lies. Plus Anne considers the portrayal of boxers in culture with Anna Whitwham, Lynda Nead and Steven Fowler.

Anne McElvoy on unrest in Ukraine and the state of dissent in Russia today with Boris Akunin, Masha Gessen, Marc Bennetts, Anna Shevchenko and Edward Lucas.

Christos Tsiolkas, Germaine Greer and the Aboriginal leader Pat Dodson talk about the fault-lines in Australia ancient and modern. In this special edition of Free Thinking presenter Samira Ahmed explores what lies within the Australian psyche?

American novelist Jonathan Lethem discusses the singer Pete Seeger, whose death has been announced today. Martin Creed's artworks have included a room full of balloons and a room containing only a light switch. Matthew Sweet considers how Creed questions what are the limits to art, talking to Creed himself, art critic Charlotte Mullins and comedian Waen Shepherd. And, as their latest plays open on the London stage, Free Thinking brings together the director and writer Carrie Cracknell and the writer Abi Morgan to consider feminism in theatre.

The actor Simon Russell Beale discusses playing the role of King Lear. Derek Jarman is the subject of a season at the BFI and an exhibition Pandemonium - at the Cultural Institute at King's College London. Composer Simon Fisher Turner, artist Tacita Dean, writer Jon Savage and Director of Film at the British Council Briony Hanson appraise his career. Plus New Generation Thinkers Philip Roscoe and Jonathan Healey reflect on attitudes to the deserving poor, benefits culture and the Channel 4 series Benefits Street.

Zhang Weiwei, one of China's foremost public intellectuals, talks to Rana Mitter about why China should not become a democracy. And as rising tensions between China and Japan continue to dominate headlines in East Asia, we hear from two young journalists, Mariko Oi and Haining Liu. Finally the author of 'Bending Adversity: Japan and the Art of Survival' David Pilling and historian Naoko Shimazu reflect on Japan's historic ability to re-invent itself and why it needs that skill more than ever at the present time.

Matthew Sweet discusses the way we talk about suicide with Jennifer Michael Hecht, author of 'Stay - A history of suicide and the philosophies against it'. Audio only video games are on the increase. Sound designer Nick Ryan explains his approach to creating them and Naomi Alderman reflects on the sound world they create. As Culture Minister Ed Vaizey prepares to meet some of Britain's leading black actors to discuss what is preventing them being given more tv and stage roles we hear the views of actress Adjoa Andoh. Writers Adam Gopnik and Louise Doughty discuss attitudes to Romani people in France and the UK.

Matthew Sweet talks to director Steve McQueen about his new film '12 Years A Slave' and assesses this year's Oscar nominations, among them Gravity starring Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, and The Wolf of Wall Street starring Leonardo Di Caprio and directed by Martin Scorcese. Plus the poet Fred D'Aguiar, anthropologist Kit Davis and the historian Madge Dresser discuss slave narratives.

Samira Ahmed looks at the appeal of Lena Dunham's US TV series Girls with comedian Yasmeen Khan and TV producer John Yorke; talks to Peruvian born novelist Daniel Alarcón about migration from the countryside to the cities of Peru and across borders from Latin America to the USA. And Professors Conor Gearty, Iain McLean and Linda Colley debate what a new constitution might look like.

Sinead Morrissey is the winner of this year's T S Eliot Prize for her anthology Parallax. She performs her poems and talks to Anne McElvoy about her role as Belfast's first Poet Laureate. As a new wall is built between Bulgaria and Turkey to deter immigrants Anne explores the way governments use walls to control people's movements and the political and architectural impact of walls as both barriers and gateways. And as Radio 3's Drama on 3 is given over to a new adaptation of The Oresteia, Aeschylus' classic trilogy about murder, revenge and justice, playwright Rebecca Lenkiewicz - whose new version of The Furies is the final episode, and classicist Edith Hall discuss the tragedies and their modern relevance.

As part of BBC Radio 3's Music on the Brink season Professor Roy Foster, the journalist and author Nick Cohen, Baroness Shirley Williams, Duncan Brack of the Liberal Democrat Party History Group and the author Bea Campbell join Philip Dodd to discuss a Landmark book which explores the collapse of Liberal values in Britain. And does 'The Strange Death of Liberal England' written by George Dangerfield in 1934 have a message for political debate and the wider culture now?

Joining Matthew Sweet for a Landmark discussion about Robert Musil's book, The Man Without Qualities, its author and the historical landscape from which they both emerged are the writers Margaret Drabble and William Boyd, the cultural historian Philipp Blom, German literature expert Andrew Webber and with readings from Peter Marinker.

As part of Radio 3's Music on the Brink, Free Thinking takes the cultural temperature of Paris, Berlin, London, St Petersburg and Vienna in the years leading up to the First World War. The novelist AS Byatt, the film expert Neil Brand and the cultural historians Alexandra Harris and Philipp Blom have chosen artworks and artefacts from the period and will use them to explore, with Anne McElvoy, the ideas and spirit of the European capital cities on the brink of World War 1.

Anne McElvoy discusses the state of Feminism in 2013. From women in the boardroom to Twitter trolls; from activism to male violence, via the intersection of class, race and gender and the limits of identity politics. Anne surveys the issues that have dominated Feminist debate in 2013, with Julie Bindel, Caroline Criado-Perez, Reni Eddo-Lodge, Sibylle Rupprecht and Zoe Stavri.

50 years ago this month director Yasujiro Ozu died after making 53 films. Tokyo Story follows an elderly couple who go to visit their busy grown up children and their widowed daughter-in-law. Rana Mitter presents a Landmark edition looking at this cinematic classic, hearing from actor Richard Wilson, Professor Naoko Shimazu and film critic Larushka Ivan-Zadeh.

Singer and song writer Neil Tennant in conversation with Philip Dodd. He discusses the influence of the North East on his career which began in publishing and magazines, the road to London which proved irresistable, and about life with musical partner Chris Lowe in Pet Shop Boys. The biggest selling British pop duo of all time with more than fifty million albums sold worldwide, last year Pet Shop Boys performed at the closing ceremony of the London Olympics and they have just returned from a tour which has taken them to 29 countries.

To pay tribute to the actor Peter O’Toole, Matthew Sweet is joined by director Roger Michell, film producer Kevin Loader, actresss Annabel Leventon and theatre critic Michael Billington. Behavioural geneticist Robert Plomin presents his theory on the importance of genetic inheritance for determining academic achievement. New Generation Thinker Christopher Harding leads a tour of Japanese Christmas. New Generation Thinker Eleanor Barraclough and John Lennard, literature and fantasy scholar, explore dragons in myth and literature, from Beowulf to Smaug.

Susannah Clapp and Cleo Van Velsen join Anne McElvoy to review the musical stage adaptation of American Psycho, starring Matt Smith. Doris Kearns Goodwin discusses the turbulent politics of US President Theodore Roosevelt, the subject of her new book The Bully Pulpit. New Generation Thinker Sarah Peverley outlines Christmas traditions of the Medieval period. Charles Hind, Gavin Stamp and Tanya Sengupta discuss Britain’s colonial architecture.

The Science Museum in London is staging Mind Maps, an exhibition on the history of psychology and Philip Dodd discusses it with psychologist Keith Laws and Clare Allan. Lisa Appignanesi joins Philip to put a new volume of correspondence between Freud and his daughter Anna in context. As religion has declined, has psychotherapy come to take its place in how we think about what it is to be human? Giles Fraser joins Philip along with New Generation Thinker Christopher Harding to discuss. And playwright Howard Brenton and the poet Moniza Alvi discuss writing about Partition.

As Andrew Lloyd Webber prepares to open his new musical about Profumo and Stephen Ward, Matthew Sweet explores 1963 - the year that 'sexual intercourse began' according to Philip Larkin's poem. Joining Matthew are Lord Hutchinson who defended Christine Keeler; journalist and campaigner Bea Campbell; actress and singer Lynda Baron; Don Black, lyricist for the musical Stephen Ward; Richard Davenport-Hines, author of An English Affair; and Geoffrey Robertson QC, leader of a campaign to clear Stephen Ward's name.

In a change to our usual programme and podcast, Philip Dodd introduces two interviews with Athol Fugard and Janet Suzman on the day that Nelson Mandela died, aged 95.

Has "business become a dirty word?" Stefan Stern and Linda Yueh join Samira Ahmed to look at whether business has separated itself from society and lost the confidence of its customers. Acclaimed children's author Meg Rosoff discusses one of the most eagerly awaited films of the year - Alexander Payne's Nebraska. And Samira will also be discussing art and the Middle East with the British Museum's Venetia Porter, the critic Godfrey Barker, and Saudi Arabia's best known artist, Abdulnasser Gharem.

Matthew Sweet has a first night review from Susannah Clapp of Jude Law as Henry V directed by Michael Grandage. He also talks to maritime geographer Phil Steinberg and expert in international public law, Steve Haines, about what the Freedom of the Seas means now and how maritime governance may develop this century. And Hughes biographer Bonnie Greer and the writer Fred D'Aiguiar have watched a new version of Langston Hughes' 1961 retelling of the nativity story; Black Nativity and talk to Matthew about Langston Hughes' enduring legacy.