Arts & Ideas

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.

Art critic for The Times Rachel Campbell-Johnston profiles the work of Laure Prouvost, winner of the Turner Prize 2013. Theatre critic Mark Shenton and Dr Caroline Warman review a new staging of Leonard Bernstein's Candide, choreographed by former Royal Ballet star Adam Cooper. Writers Hermione Lee and Simon Garfield discuss the insight personal letters give into writers' lives and creative processes. And Night Waves reflects on how experimental band Can melded the ideas of Karlheinz Stockhausen and free jazz to revolutionise 60s' German pop.

Bestselling writer Amy Tan joins Anne McElvoy to discuss her new novel, The Valley of Amazement. Choreographer Shobana Jeyasingh's latest work, Strange Blooms, is inspired by the visual flamboyance of flowers; she is joined by fashion historian Caroline Cox to explore the changing depictions of flowers in fashion and culture. Writer Philip Short discusses his biography of one of the key architects of modern Europe, François Mitterrand.

Rana Mitter looks forward to an Age of the Happy City with innovative urban scholar, Richard Burdett, and journalist and urban experimentalist, Charles Montgomery. One of India's leading historians Ramachandra Guha tells Rana about Gandhi before India. He traces the friendships, set-backs, struggles and events which shaped Gandhi's thinking and honed skills he would take back into India's struggle for independence. And Jacky Klein reviews a major retrospective of artist brothers Jake and Dinos Chapman's work opening this week at London's Serpentine Sackler Gallery.

As Scotland and England consider the future of the United Kingdom, Philip Dodd discusses what Orwell and his version of Englishness might have to offer the debate, with Robert Colls, author of 'George Orwell: English Rebel', historian Selina Todd, and singer and author Pat Kane. As an exhibition of glasswork by contemporary British artists opens in London, Philip talks to two of the contributors Gavin Turk and Sue Webster about working in the medium. Philip is joined by Radio 3 New Generation Thinker Jules Evans who is one of the organisers of Stoic Week and by classicist Professor Edith Hall, and philosopher and journalist Mark Vernon to discuss the concept.

Veteran politician Tony Benn talks to Matthew Sweet about his final volume of diaries, A Blaze of Autumn Sunshine. Historian Eliza Filby and journalist David Aaronovitch examine how much political traditions shape contemporary politics. Writer Brian Sibley reveals the lesser-known side of Mary Poppins author PL Travers. Writer Will Self discusses Guy Debord’s prescient polemic, The Society of the Spectacle.

With the return of the Young Vic's Theatre Uncut season, Anne McElvoy is joined by Neil LaBute, Hannah Price and Tiffany Jenkins to discuss the role and nature of political theatre. Writer Scott Turow reflects on the assassination of John F. Kennedy, 50 years on. As part of Radio 3's Britten 100 celebrations, Alexandra Harris and Francis Spalding discuss the life and work of his librettist Myfanwy Piper.

Penny Woolcock talks to Samira Ahmed about directing a film version of John Adams's opera The Death of Klinghoffer. For the Free Thinking Festival, she returned to the city where she began her career. During her work at Trade Films in Gateshead she depicted the aftermath of the closure of the steelworks in Consett in When the Dog Bites. Her most recent project involved negotiating a truce between rival Birmingham gangs which she documented in One Mile Away. Recorded on Saturday 26th October 2013 in front of a live audience at Sage Gateshead as part of Radio 3's Free Thinking festival.

50 years of Dr Who is celebrated this weekend by the BBC. Matthew Sweet discusses the TV series with historian Dominic Sandbrook, philosopher Ray Monk and New Generation Thinker and cultural historian Fern Riddell. A Free Thinking career interview with artist William Tillyer, whose work is being celebrated in a retrospective at the Middlesbrough Institute of Modern Art MIMA. Dr Adam Smith reflects on the political philosophy underlying the rhetoric of the Gettysburg address, given by Abraham Lincoln 150 years ago.

Whose Strife Is It Anyway? Amit Chaudhuri, Gaiutra Bahadur and Aamer Ahmed Khan discuss depictions of the powerless in fiction and factual reporting with Rana Mitter. Chaudhuri has explored life in Calcutta in many of his novels and essays; Badhadur's book Coolie Woman: The Odyssesy of Indenture takes the history of her great grandmother and examines the status of women who worked as labourers on sugar plantations; Khan is an editor for the Urdu section of the BBC's World Service. Recorded on Sunday 27th October 2013 in front of a live audience at Sage Gateshead as part of Radio 3's Free Thinking festival.

In a bid to reach new audiences, theatre is increasingly moving off the stage and the visual arts are coming out of the gallery, but is this a welcome trend? Matthew Sweet chairs the Free Thinking panel: BALTIC Curator Godfrey Worsdale, critic Sarah Kent, artist Wolfgang Weileder and Helen Marriage, director of Artichoke, the arts company responsible for a puppet elephant parading through London and Durham's Lumiere street light festival. Recorded on Sunday 27th October 2013 in front of a live audience at Sage Gateshead as part of Radio 3's Free Thinking festival.

Is the idea of counselling as non-judgmental listening flawed? New Generation Thinker Christopher Harding, from Edinburgh University, focuses his talk on attitudes in Japan and the UK. He asks whether prayer involves fewer hidden pressures than a session with a shrink. Recorded on Saturday 26th October 2013 in front of a live audience at Sage Gateshead as part of Radio 3's Free Thinking festival.

As we strive to protect our children’s imaginations from negative influences, are we running an even greater risk – of starving those imaginations altogether? Writer Patrick Ness, author of the ‘Chaos Walking’ trilogy, and Dr Charles Fernyhough, whose writing examines the development of childhood language and memories, join Matthew Sweet to explore what stimulates young minds and how children cope in an unstable world. Recorded on Saturday 26th October 2013 in front of a live audience at Sage Gateshead as part of Radio 3's Free Thinking festival.