Past Present Future

Today’s revolutionary ideas come from China: David talks to historian Julia Lovell about the Taiping Revolution, another massive mid-19th-century upheaval that nearly overturned the established order. How did Christianity inspire an uprising against the Qing dynasty? Was it a revolution or a civil war? What was the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom? And where does this cataclysmic event fit into China’s 20th-century revolutionary history? Out now: a bonus episode on 1848 with Chris Clark looking at the counter-revolution – how did the ruling regimes of Europe fight back? To get this and a year’s worth of bonus episodes sign up to PPF+ https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus Available tomorrow: the latest edition of our free fortnightly newsletter with clips, guides, further reading and much more. Sign up now https://www.ppfideas.com/newsletters Next time: Darwin w/Adam Rutherford Past Present Future is part of the Airwave Podcast Network Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In our second of three episodes on the revolutions that swept through Europe in 1848 David and Chris Clark explore the forces demanding radical change. What was ‘the Social Question’ and who was asking it? Where did the violence that erupted in the summer of 1848 come from? What, if anything did it achieve? And who paid the price? Out tomorrow: a final bonus episode on 1848 looking at the counter-revolution: how did the ruling regimes of Europe fight back? To get this and a year’s worth of bonus episodes sign up now to PPF+ https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus Next time: The Taiping Revolution w/Julia Lovell Past Present Future is part of the Airwave Podcast Network Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the first of three episodes about the revolutions that swept through Europe in 1848 David is joined by historian Chris Clark to explore the ideas behind this continental upheaval. We start with the ‘Liberal Revolution’: Who were the liberals and what had turned them into revolutionaries? How did the original French Revolution overshadow their hopes and fears? Were parliaments and constitutions capable of sustaining revolutionary fervour? And did the liberals of 1848 realise what they had unleashed? Come to see PPF Live at the Bath Curious Minds Festival: join us on Saturday March 29th to hear David in conversation with Robert Saunders about the legacy of Winston Churchill: The Politician with Nine Lives https://bit.ly/42GPp3X Next time: 1848: The Radical Revolution w/Chris Clark Past Present Future is part of the Airwave Podcast Network Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s revolutionary idea is something a bit different: David talks to statistician David Spiegelhalter about how an eighteenth-century theory of probability emerged from relative obscurity in the twentieth century to reconfigure our understanding of the relationship between past, present and future. What was Thomas Bayes’s original idea about doing probability in reverse: from effect to cause? What happened when this way of thinking passed through the vortex of the French Revolution? How has it come to lie behind recent innovations in political polling, AI, self-driving cars, medical research and so much more? Why does it remain controversial to this day? The latest edition of our free fortnightly newsletter is available: to get it in your inbox sign up now https://www.ppfideas.com/newsletter Next time: 1848: The Liberal Revolution w/Chris Clark Past Present Future is part of the Airwave Podcast Network Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s episode is about a very different revolution from any we’ve discussed so far: David talks to historian Hank Gonzalez about the Haitian Revolution, which for the first time in history saw a slave revolt result in an independent free state. How did the Haitian Revolution intersect with the American and French Revolutions that preceded it? Why were European powers unable to reverse it despite massive military intervention? What is its legacy for the state of Haiti today? Tickets are still available for PPF Live at the Bath Curious Minds Festival: join us on Saturday 29th March to hear David in conversation with Robert Saunders about the legacy of Winston Churchill: The Politician with Nine Lives https://bit.ly/42GPp3X Out tomorrow the latest edition of our free fortnightly newsletter: to get it in your inbox sign up now https://www.ppfideas.com/newsletters Next time: The Bayesian revolution w/David Spiegelhalter Past Present Future is part of the Airwave Podcast Network Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For our third episode on the ideas behind the French Revolution, David talks to Richard Whatmore about the ubiquitous Thomas Paine, the Englishman who championed revolutionary politics around the world. How did Paine come to see France as the locus of all his revolutionary hopes? How were those hopes ultimately disappointed? And what happened to Paine’s vision of the Rights of Man? Out now on PPF+: a special bonus episode on King Donald The First. David explores the arguments being made in 2025 for the restoration of monarchy in America. Who’s making them and why? What on earth are they thinking? Sign up now to get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus Next time: Slave uprising: the Haitian Revolution Past Present Future is part of the Airwave Podcast Network Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For our second episode on the people and ideas behind the French Revolution David talks to historian and biographer Ruth Scurr about the man who came to embody the revolution in all its radicalism and all its terror: Maximilien Robespierre. Who was he and how did he rise so fast once the upheaval was underway? How did he harness the power of the Jacobin Club? How did he marshal the violence of the streets? What did he believe in? And what made him think it was possible to reconcile virtue with terror? Out now: a special bonus episode for PPF+ subscribers on King Donald The First: David explores the arguments being made in 2025 for the restoration of monarchy in America. Who’s making them and why? What on earth are they thinking? Sign up now to get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus Next time: French Revolution 3: Paine Past Present Future is part of the Airwave Podcast Network Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the first of three episodes about the people and ideas behind the French Revolution, David talks to Lucia Rubinelli about the man who helped kickstart it all: the Abbé Sieyès. How did an obscure cleric galvanise a nation? What did he mean by the Third Estate and why did he think it was everything? What went wrong with his idea of a new constitutional order for France? And what happened when Sieyès encountered Napoleon? Out now on PPF+: a special bonus episode on King Donald The First. David explores the arguments being made in 2025 for the restoration of monarchy in America. Who’s making them and why? What on earth are they thinking? Sign up now to get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus Next time: French Revolution 2: Robespierre Past Present Future is part of the Airwave Podcast Network Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the second of our two episodes about the American Revolution David talks to historian Eric Nelson about the ideas that shaped the US Constitution. Was the office of President a victory for the people who still wanted a king or for those who never wanted one again? What was old and what was new about the idea of the separation of powers? What really divided the Federalists and the Antifederalists? And how are these arguments still being played out in the early days of Trump 2.0? Out tomorrow: a special bonus episode for PPF+ subscribers on King Donald The First: David explores the arguments being made in 2025 for the restoration of monarchy in America. Who’s making them and why? What on earth are they thinking? Sign up now to get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus Also sign up now for the latest edition of our free fortnightly newsletter out tomorrow https://www.ppfideas.com/newsletters Next time: French Revolution 1: Sieyes Past Present Future is part of the Airwave Podcast Network Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today it’s the first of two episodes about one of the most significant revolutions of all: the American Revolution. David talks to historian Eric Nelson about the ideas behind America’s Declaration of Independence in 1776. How did a fight with the British parliament become a repudiation of the British king? What turned royalists into republicans? What kind of republic did they think they were building? And whose consent was going to be needed to build it? Next time: American Revolution 2: The Constitution Past Present Future is part of the Airwave Podcast Network Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s episode is about a revolution that started 250 years ago and is still going on (in the form of the digital revolution): the Industrial Revolution. David talks to economic historian Alexis Litvine about how new ways of making things changed human understanding of the world around us. Did the Industrial Revolution invent the idea of progress? Did it revolutionise the concept of nature? Did it upend the way we think about time? And what was the cost? Tickets are available for PPF Live at the Bath Curious Minds Festival: on Saturday 29th March David will be in conversation with Robert Saunders about the legacy of Winston Churchill: The Politician with Nine Lives https://bit.ly/42GPp3X Next time: American Revolution: The Declaration of Independence Past Present Future is part of the Airwave Podcast Network Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In the second of our episodes with historian Clare Jackson on the English revolutions of the 17th century we discuss the one that usually gets called ‘Glorious’: the revolution of 1688. Was it a revolution or was it an invasion? What rights did parliament win and what powers did it acquire? Was this the beginning of the modern military state? And does the Glorious Revolution deserve its name? Out now: the latest edition of our free fortnightly newsletter with guides to the most recent episodes, links, clips and further reading: sign up now https://www.ppfideas.com/newsletters Tickets are available for PPF Live at the Bath Curious Minds Festival: on Saturday March 29th David will be in conversation with Robert Saunders about the legacy of Winston Churchill: The Politician with Nine Lives https://bit.ly/42GPp3X. Come be a part of recording PPF live! Next up in The History of Revolutionary Ideas: The Industrial Revolution Past Present Future is part of the Airwave Podcast Network Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s episode in our history of revolutionary ideas is about the event that is sometimes – but not always – called the English Revolution: the Civil War of the 1640s and the short-lived republic that followed. David talks to historian Clare Jackson about whether this really was a revolution and about the thinking that inspired it. What was old, what was new, what was borrowed and what was left when it was all over – what happened to the dreams of a brave new world? Out tomorrow: the latest edition of our free fortnightly newsletter with guides to the most recent episodes, links, clips and further reading: sign up now https://www.ppfideas.com/newsletters Tickets are available for PPF Live at the Bath Curious Minds Festival: on Saturday March 29th David will be in conversation with Robert Saunders about the legacy of Winston Churchill: The Politician with Nine Lives https://bit.ly/42GPp3X Next up in The History of Revolutionary Ideas: English Revolution 2: 1688 Past Present Future is part of the Airwave Podcast Network Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s episode is about a revolution that took centuries to happen if it ever really happened at all: The Scientific Revolution. David talks to historian of science Simon Schaffer about what changed in human understanding – and what didn’t – in the age of Galileo and Newton. Was the new science a revolution of ideas or of practices? What did it mean for the hold of religious and political authority? Who or what were the driving forces behind it? And did the people who lived through it realise what was happening? Out now on PPF+: David’s conversation with Alec Ryrie about Jean Calvin, who may have been the Reformation’s true revolutionary. What was Calvinism and how did it change the world? To get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening sign up now to PPF+ https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus Tickets are available now for PPF Live at the Bath Curious Minds Festival: join us on Saturday 29th March to hear David in conversation with Robert Saunders about the legacy of Winston Churchill: The Politician with Nine Lives https://bit.ly/42GPp3X Next Time on the History of Revolutionary Ideas: The English Revolutions (part one): The Civil War Past Present Future is part of the Airwave Podcast Network Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s revolutionary thinker is Martin Luther, the man who upended the religious, political and intellectual life of Europe, maybe without entirely meaning to. David talks to historian Alec Ryrie about how a German monk took on the entire authority of the Catholic Church and survived the experience. What did he hope to achieve? Who were his principal backers? How did he reimagine the idea of human freedom? And where is his influence most widely felt today? Out tomorrow on PPF+ a new bonus episode: David talks to Alec Ryrie about Calvin, who may have been the Reformation’s true revolutionary. What was Calvinism and how did it change the world? To get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening sign up now to PPF+https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus Tickets are available now for PPF Live at the Bath Curious Minds Festival: on Saturday March 29th David will be in conversation with Robert Saunders about the legacy of Winston Churchill: The Politician with Nine Lives https://bit.ly/42GPp3X Next up in The History of Revolutionary Ideas: The Scientific Revolution Past Present Future is part of the Airwave Podcast Network Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s episode in our history of revolutionary ideas is about a medieval movement that used the ancient past to rethink and reimagine the present and the future. David talks to historian Eric Nelson about humanism and its enormous impact on the history of ideas. How did humanism emerge out of catastrophe? What did it do to the hold of Church and Empire on the medieval mind? Was humanist politics really revolutionary politics? And where is the ‘human’ in humanism? As part of our Great Political Films series we are hosting a special screening of Network (1976) at the Regent Street Cinema in London on 18th March, followed by a live podcast recording with David and Helen Lewis. Aaron Sorkin said: ‘No predictor of the future – not even Orwell – has ever been as right as Network.’ Come see why! Tickets now available https://www.ppfideas.com/event-list Next up in The History of Revolutionary Ideas: The Reformation 1: Luther Past Present Future is part of the Airwave Podcast Network Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s episode in our history of revolutionary ideas is about a medieval document that is sometimes thought to contain a ground-breaking promise of basic political rights. David talks to historian Nick Vincent about Magna Carta (1215) and what it did and didn’t actually say. Why did the warring parties agree to it? Was it a constitutional charter or a peace treaty? What happened when its terms were broken? And how did it come to acquire the totemic significance it has today? Sign up now to get our free fortnightly newsletter out tomorrow – with writing, clips, links and more to accompany this series https://www.ppfideas.com/newsletters Come to see PPF recorded live! As part of the Curious Minds festival in Bath David will be in conversation with regular PPF contributor Robert Saunders about the legacy of Winston Churchill: The Politician With Nine Lives. It’s happening at the Komedia in Bath at 11am on Saturday 29th March. Tickets now available https://www.ppfideas.com/event-list Next up in The History of Revolutionary Ideas: Humanism Past Present Future is part of the Airwave Podcast Network Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s episode in our history of revolutionary ideas explores the world-altering impact of Islam from the seventh century onwards. David talks to the leading Islamic scholar Tim Winter (Abdal Hakim Murad) about what changed – and what didn’t – with the appearance of Islamic law, Islamic culture and Islamic ideas of community. Was Islam really egalitarian? How could a universalist religion encompass so much variety? Why did it spread so fast? And what caused it to split so soon? Come see PPF recorded live! As part of the Curious Minds festival in Bath David will be in conversation with regular PPF contributor Robert Saunders about the legacy of Winston Churchill: The Politician With Nine Lives. It’s happening at the Komedia in Bath at 11am on Saturday 29th March. Priority booking for PPF listeners opens at 9am on Tuesday 28th January – just go to our website for more info and to get your tickets: https://www.ppfideas.com/event-list Out now on PPF+: the second part of David’s conversation with Agnes Callard about Socrates, exploring politics, AI, therapy and death. Sign up now for £5 per month or £50 for a whole year to get this and all our bonus episodes (21 and counting!) plus ad-free listening https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus Next up in The History of Revolutionary Ideas: Magna Carta Past Present Future is part of the Airwave Podcast Network Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s episode in our series on revolutionary ideas is a conversation covering two millennia with the historian Tom Holland exploring the never-ending upending of human understanding brought about by Christianity. How can weakness be the ultimate strength? How can political order be built out of the glorification of suffering? How can a universal religion create so much hierarchical division? And in a Christian world, is it ever possible to escape the charge of hypocrisy? Out now on PPF+: the second part of David’s conversation with Agnes Callard about Socrates, exploring politics, AI, therapy and death. Sign up now for £5 per month or £50 for a whole year to get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus Next up in The History of Revolutionary Ideas: Islam w/Tim Winter Past Present Future is part of the Airwave Podcast Network Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

To begin our history of revolutionary ideas in earnest, David talks to the philosopher Agnes Callard about Socrates, the philosopher who changed – and can still change – everything. Just what is so radical about the Socratic method? How does it open up new ways of thinking about the meaning of life? Can anyone do it? And where does it leave 2000+ years of intervening philosophy? Out tomorrow on PPF+: the second part of David’s conversation with Agnes Callard about Socrates, exploring politics, AI, therapy and death. Sign up now for £5 per month or £50 for a whole year to get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus Open Socrates: The Case for a Philosophical Life by Agnes Callard is available now https://bit.ly/4h0pZmg Next up in The History of Revolutionary Ideas: Christianity w/Tom Holland Past Present Future is part of the Airwave Podcast Network Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

To kick off our new series on revolutionary ideas past, present and future David talks to two regular PPF contributors – the philosopher Lea Ypi and the scientist Adam Rutherford – about what makes an idea truly revolutionary. Do revolutionary ideas change the world? Can the world be changed without them? Can bad ideas ever be revolutionary ideas? And where should we be looking for revolutionary ideas today? Sign up to our free fortnightly newsletter to get more ideas, clips, reading suggestions and extra insights to accompany this and all our series. Join our mailing list now: https://www.ppfideas.com/newsletters Next Time: The History of Revolutionary Ideas: Socrates w/Agnes Callard Past Present Future is part of the Airwave Podcast Network Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The final episode in our great political films series explores Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest (2023), his haunting take on the home life of the man who ran Auschwitz. This is a film like nothing else. It is not about the banality of evil or the proximity of innocence to horror. Instead it takes us inside a nightmare world from which there is no escape: the grimmest fairy story of them all. Out now: a new bonus episodes on PPF+ exploring the joys of Armando Iannucci’s In The Loop, not just one of the smartest films about contemporary politics but also the funniest. Sign up now for £5 per month or £50 for a whole year to get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus Coming next: we begin our new series on The History of Revolutionary Ideas Past Present Future is part of the Airwave Podcast Network Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The penultimate episode in our great political films series explores Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty (2012), her controversial take on the War on Terror. Tracking the CIA’s years-long pursuit of Osama Bin Laden, it’s part spy procedural, part story of a female outsider in a man’s world, and part a complex disquisition on political violence. Where does bureaucracy end and killing begin? Can torture ever be justified? And whose judgment is ultimately the one that counts? Out now: a new bonus episodes on PPF+ exploring the joys of Armando Iannucci’s In The Loop, not just one of the smartest films about contemporary politics but also the funniest. Sign up now for £5 per month or £50 for a whole year to get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus Next time: The Zone of Interest Coming soon: a new series on The History of Revolutionary Ideas Past Present Future is part of the Airwave Podcast Network Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The second David Fincher film in our series (after Fight Club) is The Social Network (2010), the Aaron Sorkin-scripted take on how Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook and the price paid by everyone else. A tale of power and privilege, innocence and cynicism, it is also about how exploitation can be sold as exclusivity. What is left when we have given away our control over who we are in order to decide who counts as a friend? Out later this week: a new bonus episodes on PPF+ exploring the joys of Armando Iannucci’s In The Loop, not just one of the smartest films about contemporary politics but also the funniest. Sign up now for £5 per month or £50 for a whole year to get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus Next time: Zero Dark Thirty Past Present Future is part of the Airwave Podcast Network Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Our great political films series reaches the twenty-first century with Paul Thomas Anderson’s unforgettable There Will Be Blood (2007), starring Daniel Day-Lewis as oilman Daniel Plainview in one of the all-time great screen performances. Based on Upton Sinclair’s novel Oil! (1927), the movie swaps out Marx for Nietzsche and tells a story of money vs religion and family vs both. What, in the end, is the force that cannot be overcome? Out now: two bonus episodes on PPF+ to accompany this series: Shoah part one and Shoah part two, exploring Claude Lanzmann’s path-breaking, harrowing, unforgettable 9-hour documentary about the Holocaust. Sign up to PPF+ to get all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus Next time: The Social Network Past Present Future is part of the Airwave Podcast Network Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

David talks to writer and journalist Helen Lewis about David Fincher’s Fight Club (1999), the film that launched a thousand memes. Does this tale of thwarted masculinity and corporate malfeasance code left or code right? Who, in the end, is Tyler Durden: Joe Rogan or Jordan Peterson, Elon Musk or Andrew Tate? Is Fight Club a relic of the pre-digital age or a prophetic vision of what was coming? And … Meat Loaf?! Out now: two new bonus episodes on PPF+ to accompany this series: Shoah part one and Shoah part two, exploring Claude Lanzmann’s path-breaking, harrowing, unforgettable 9-hour documentary about the Holocaust. Sign up to PPF+ to get all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus Next Time: There Will Be Blood Past Present Future is part of the Airwave Podcast Network Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Our political films season has reached the late 1980s with Do The Right Thing (1989), Spike Lee’s searing take on racial tension on a Brooklyn block on a boiling hot summer’s day. How does a fight over pizza turn into a full-blown riot? With everyone feeling exploited, who is really to blame? And where do Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcom X – not to mention Jesse Jackson Jr. – fit in? Out now: two new bonus episodes on PPF+ to accompany this series: Shoah part one and Shoah part two, exploring Claude Lanzmann’s path-breaking, harrowing, unforgettable 9-hour documentary about the Holocaust. Sign up to PPF+ to get all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus Next time: Fight Club w/ Helen Lewis Past Present Future is part of the Airwave Podcast Network Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s great political film is Akira Kurosawa’s epic of war and deception Kagemusha (1980). Set in late sixteenth-century Japan it tells the story of a thief tasked with impersonating a warlord. Can physical resemblance translate into political authority? How far does the conspiracy need to go? And who in the end is the real criminal? Out now: two new bonus episodes on PPF+ to accompany this series: Shoah part one and Shoah part two, exploring Claude Lanzmann’s path-breaking, harrowing, unforgettable 9-hour documentary about the Holocaust. Sign up to PPF+ to get all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus Next time: Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing Past Present Future is part of the Airwave Podcast Network Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s great political film is Chantal Akerman’s Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975), voted the greatest film of all time in the 2022 Sight and Sound poll. A classic of feminist cinema it is also a film about the meaning of time and the illusions of choice. How can a movie which shows a woman peeling potatoes in real time have you on the edge of your seat? If the personal is the political, what do three days in the life of a Belgian housewife tell us about the true nature of power? Coming this weekend on PPF+: two new bonus episodes to accompany this series: Shoah part one and Shoah part two, exploring Claude Lanzmann’s path-breaking, harrowing, unforgettable 9-hour documentary about the Holocaust. Sign up to PPF+ to get all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus Next time in our regular slot: Kagemusha (1980) Past Present Future is part of the Airwave Podcast Network Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s episode is a conversation between David and the former politician Chris Smith (long-time MP and Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport in Tony Blair’s first government) about The Candidate (1972), the first great political film of the 1970s. How does its portrayal of the compromises of running for office hold up today? Is it a cynical film or an inspiring one? And what lessons does it have for politics in the age of Trump? To find out about gifting a PPF+ subscription for Christmas and beyond just click on the link https://ppf.supportingcast.fm/gifts Next time: Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (voted the greatest film of all time in the 2022 Sight and Sound critics’ poll) Past Present Future is part of the Airwave Podcast Network Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We resume our series on the great political films with Costa-Gavras’s Z (1969), the quintessential late 60s movie about assassination, conspiracy, street politics and police brutality. How could a film shot in Algeria and starring French actors so faithfully reconstruct a recent Greek political killing? How did it capture the spirit of the times? And what does it say about the relationship between politics as violence and politics as story-telling? To find out about our gift offerings for Christmas and beyond visit the gift page on our website https://www.ppfideas.com/gifts Next time: The Candidate (1972) w/Chris Smith Past Present Future is part of the Airwave Podcast Network Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

To finish this series of bad ideas, David tries to persuade Gary Gerstle of the futility of televised leadership debates. From Nixon vs Kennedy to Harris vs Trump, do the voters really learn anything from these supposed exchanges of ideas? Are they ever much more than a competition to avoid gaffes? And what did British politics gain when it introduced prime ministerial election debates (apart from a brief attack of Cleggmania)? A new bonus bad idea is available to accompany this series: David talks to Lucia Rubinelli about what’s wrong with the idea of sovereignty. To get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening sign up now to PPF+ https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus To find out about our gift offerings for Christmas and beyond visit the gift page on our website https://www.ppfideas.com/gifts The latest edition of the PPF newsletter is out now - sign up to get it every fortnight https://www.ppfideas.com/newsletters Next time: The Great Political Films resumes with Z (1969) Past Present Future is part of the Airwave Podcast Network Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For our penultimate bad idea in this series, David talks to Robert Saunders about what’s gone wrong with British politics since party members got to decide who leads the party – and in some cases who gets to be prime minister. Is the problem the principle of the thing or the people who end up in charge (Corbyn, Truss)? How did reforms undertaken in the name of democracy manage to undermine democracy? And what are the alternatives? A new bonus bad idea is available to accompany this series: David talks to Lucia Rubinelli about what’s gone wrong with the idea of sovereignty. To get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening sign up now to PPF+ https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus To find out about our gift offerings for Christmas and beyond visit the gift page on our website https://www.ppfideas.com/gifts Next Bad Idea: Televised Leadership Debates Past Present Future is part of the Airwave Podcast Network Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s bad idea is a theory of the universe: David talks to astrophysicist Chris Lintott about Steady State Theory, the rival cosmological model to the Big Bang, which held its own for a while in the 1940s and 1950s but turned out to be unsustainable. Why did its best-known champion Fred Hoyle have so much faith in it? What did it expose about the limitations of Big Bang theory? And what does it reveal about scientific hubris and human weakness in the face of the unknown? Available now is a new bonus bad idea to accompany this series: David talks to Lucia Rubinelli about what’s gone wrong with the idea of sovereignty. To get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening sign up to PPF+ https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus Next Bad Idea: Party Members Choosing Leaders Past Present Future is part of the Airwave Podcast Network Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s bad idea concerns history itself: David talks to world historian Ayse Zarakol about the temptations and the pitfalls of the idea of The End of History. Francis Fukuyama popularised the phrase in 1989 at the end of the Cold War. What did his vision of the triumph of liberal democracy miss? Was it a Western fantasy or a modern fantasy or both? How has history exacted its revenge? And if history doesn’t end, does it repeat? Coming on Saturday a bonus bad idea to accompany this series: David talks to Lucia Rubinelli about what’s gone wrong with the idea of sovereignty. To get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening sign up to PPF+ https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus Looking for Christmas presents? We have a special Xmas gift offer: give a subscription to PPF+ and your recipient will also receive a personally inscribed copy of David’s new book The History of Ideas. Find out more https://www.ppfideas.com/gifts Next Bad Idea: Steady State Theory Past Present Future is part of the Airwave Podcast Network Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For today’s bad idea David talks to political philosopher Alan Finlayson about what goes wrong when politicians get their hands on the concept of modernisation. Why does it leave them so in thrall to new technology? What does it miss about how change really happens? And where does the modernisation project end? Looking for Christmas presents? We have a special Xmas gift offer: give a subscription to PPF+ and your recipient will also receive a personally inscribed copy of David’s new book The History of Ideas. Find out more https://www.ppfideas.com/gifts Next Bad Idea: The End of History Past Present Future is part of the Airwave podcast network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s bad idea is about how ideas get adopted, argued over and rejected: David talks to political philosopher Alan Finlayson about what’s wrong with seeing this as a competitive marketplace. From St. Paul to Citizens United, from John Stuart Mill to Jordan Peterson, what happens when ideas get turned into commodities? Who wins and who loses? And what is an ‘ideological entrepreneur’? Looking for Christmas presents? We have a special Xmas gift offer: give a subscription to PPF+ and your recipient will also receive a personally inscribed copy of David’s new book The History of Ideas. Find out more https://www.ppfideas.com/gifts To sign up for the latest edition of our free fortnightly newsletter, out tomorrow, join our mailing list https://www.ppfideas.com/newsletters Next Bad Idea: Modernisation! Past Present Future is part of the Airwave podcast network. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For our latest bad idea with an interesting history David talks to the geneticist and science writer Adam Rutherford about what’s wrong with Nobel Prizes. Why do we revere the winners of the science prizes when we know how contrived the other prizes are? What makes us so attached to this relic of an outmoded idea of scientific progress? And what happens when someone is struck down with ‘Nobelitis’? Looking for Christmas presents? We have a special Xmas gift offer: give a subscription to PPF+ and your recipient will also receive a personally inscribed copy of David’s new book The History of Ideas. PPF merch available too! Find out more at https://www.ppfideas.com/gifts Next up on Bad Ideas: The Marketplace of Ideas Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

To kick off our new series on the history of bad ideas David talks to historian Sophie Scott-Brown about the idea of ‘the silent majority’, beloved by American presidents from Nixon to Trump. Where does this idea come from? Is it conservative or revolutionary? If the majority are actually silent, how can anyone know what they are thinking? And aren’t the silent majority really the dead? Looking for Christmas presents? We have a special Xmas gift offer: give a subscription to PPF+ and your recipient will also receive a personally inscribed copy of David’s new book The History of Ideas. Find out more https://www.ppfideas.com/gifts Next up on Bad Ideas: Nobel Prizes Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For the final (extended) episode in our American Elections series David talks to Gary Gerstle about the historical significance of Donald Trump’s decisive victory this week. Was this election and its outcome unprecedented in American history or are there parallels to guide us? Can Trump be both an existential threat to American democracy and a politician it’s possible for his opponents to work with? What is the likely shape of the new political order that his administration represents? And will democracy itself survive the experience? Out now: a new bonus episode to accompany our Great Political Films series in which David talks to Helen Thompson about Apocalypse Now, the ultimate film about war and madness. Sign up now to PPF+ to get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus Looking for Christmas presents? We have a special Xmas gift offer: give a subscription to PPF+ and your recipient will also receive a personally inscribed copy of David’s new book The History of Ideas. Find out more https://www.ppfideas.com/gifts Next time: The History of Bad Ideas: The Silent Majority Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For the last episode in this season of great political films David explores Gillo Pontecorvo’s The Battle of Algiers (1966), which changed the face of political movie-making forever. Filmed to look like archive footage, featuring actual participants in the events it describes, and showing both sides of the vicious contest between insurgents and counter-insurgents, it humanises a horrifying conflict. It also raises the question: where is the line between realism and rage? Coming on Saturday: a new bonus episode to accompany this series in which David talks to Helen Thompson about Apocalypse Now, the ultimate film about war and madness. Sign up now to PPF+ to get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus To get our free fortnightly newsletter with guides, writing and clips exploring the themes of these episodes join our mailing list https://www.ppfideas.com/newsletters Looking for Christmas presents? We have a special Christmas gift offer: give a subscription to PPF+ and your recipient will also receive a personally inscribed copy of David’s new book The History of Ideas. Find out more https://www.ppfideas.com/gifts Next time: Gary Gerstle on the 2024 Presidential Election Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This episode is about two great films on the same dark theme: David talks to American historian Jill Lepore about Stanley Kubrick’s Dr Strangelove and Sidney Lumet’s Fail Safe, which appeared within a few months of each other in 1964. Both films explore what might happen if America’s nuclear defence system went rogue. One is grimly hilarious; the other is utterly terrifying. Which packs the biggest punch today? Looking for Christmas presents? We have a special Xmas gift offer: give a subscription to PPF+ and your recipient will also receive a personally inscribed copy of David’s new book The History of Ideas. Find out more https://www.ppfideas.com/gifts Next time: The Battle of Algiers Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For today’s great political film David discusses Luchino Visconti’s The Leopard (1963) with the Italian historian of ideas Lucia Rubinelli. How did a communist aristocrat from Milan come to make a film about a Sicilian prince? How did Burt Lancaster get cast in the leading role? Is this a political film or a film against politics? And what is the real meaning of the celebrated line: ‘If we want things to stay as they are, things must change…’? Looking for Christmas presents? We have a special Christmas gift offer: give a subscription to PPF+ and your recipient will also receive a personally inscribed copy of David’s new book The History of Ideas. Find out more https://www.ppfideas.com/gifts Next time: Dr Strangelove & Fail Safe w/ Jill Lepore Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s great political film is John Frankenheimer’s masterpiece of Cold War paranoia The Manchurian Candidate (1962), which came out the week of the Cuban Missile Crisis. It’s a 1960s movie about 1950s fears: brainwashing, the Korean War, McCarthyism, all shot through with Kennedy-era anxieties about sexual potency and psychoanalysis. Who’s a Soviet agent? Who’s a mummy’s boy? And it managed to anticipate what was coming next in American politics: the age of assassination. A new bonus episode to accompany this series is out now: David explores why so many American presidents choose High Noon as their favourite film. Sign up now to PPF+ for just £5 per month or £50 a year and get all our other bonuses plus ad free listening too. https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus To get our free fortnightly newsletter with guides, writing and clips exploring the themes of these episodes join our mailing list https://www.ppfideas.com/newsletters Next time: The Leopard w/ Lucia Rubinelli Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In today’s episode David discusses Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), a great patriotic anti-war film made in the depths of WWII. Why did Churchill want the film’s production stopped and was he right to suspect it was about him? What does the film say about the politics of nostalgia and the illusions of heroism? And how is Blimp’s moustache like Kane’s Rosebud? A new bonus episode to accompany this series is out on Saturday: David explores why so many American presidents choose High Noon as their favourite film. Sign up now to PPF+ for just £5 per month or £50 a year and get all our other bonuses plus ad free listening https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus To get our free fortnightly newsletter with guides, writing and clips exploring the themes of these episodes join our mailing list https://www.ppfideas.com/newsletters Next time: The Manchurian Candidate Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Orson Welles’s Citizen Kane (1941) is many people’s favourite film of all time, including Donald Trump’s. Why does Trump love it so? What does he get right and what does he get wrong about the trajectory of the life of Charles Foster Kane? What does the film reveal about the relationship between celebrity, influence and political power? And why is Rosebud not the real mystery at the heart of this story? Like Kane, want more stuff? To get PPF merch – either an ethically-sourced canvas tote bag or a bone china mug – just go to our website https://www.ppfideas.com/merch Next time: The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today’s great political film is Frank Capra’s Mr Smith Goes to Washington (1939), a much-loved tale of the little guy taking on the corrupt establishment. But there’s far more to it than that, including an origin story that suggests Jefferson Smith (James Stewart) might not be what he seems. From filibusters to fascism, from the New Deal to America First, from Burton K. Wheeler to Harry S. Truman, this is a heart-warming film that still manages to go to the dark heart of American politics. To hear our bonus episode on Philip Roth’s The Plot Against America (in which Burton K. Wheeler becomes America’s Hitler) sign up now to PPF+ for just £5 per month or £50 a year and get all our other bonuses plus ad free listening https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus Next time: Citizen Kane Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

For the first episode in our new series David explores Jean Renoir’s La Grande Illusion (1937), a great anti-war film that is also a melancholy meditation on friendship between enemies, love across borders, and the inevitability of loss. What, in the end, is the great illusion: war itself, or the belief that we can escape its baleful consequences? Our bonus episode with Chris Clark on how Europe’s elites sleepwalked into war in 1914 is available on PPF+. Sign up now for just £5 per month or £50 a year to get 24 bonus episodes a year plus ad-free listening https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus Next time: Mr Smith Goes to Washington Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

David talks to author Michael Lewis about SBF and EA: about the man he got to know before, during and after his spectacular fall and about the philosophy with which he was associated. What did Sam Bankman-Fried believe was the purpose of making so much money? How did he manage to get so side-tracked from doing good? Why when it all went wrong did he fail to save himself? A conversation about utilitarianism, risk and human weakness. Going Infinite: The Rise and Fall of a New Tycoon by Michael Lewis is out now in paperback with a new afterword https://bit.ly/3ZXr88u The second bonus episode to accompany our recent series on Thinking Machines is available now: David and Shannon Vallor talk about where AI is really taking us, sorting the reality from the hype. Sign up to PPF+ for just £5 per month or £50 a year for 24 bonus episodes https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus To get the latest edition of our free fortnightly newsletter (out tomorrow), with lots more on SBF and EA and plenty else besides, sign up here https://www.ppfideas.com/newsletters Next time: The Great Political Films: La Grande Illusion Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

David checks in with Gary Gerstle one more time before November to explore where things now stand with the US presidential election. In a conversation recorded in the immediate aftermath of the Walz/Vance debate, they discuss dead cats, October headwinds, comparisons with 2016 and a president missing in action. Plus, if the result really is too close to call, can the American Republic survive the fallout? There is another bonus episode out now to accompany our recent series on Thinking Machines: David and Shannon Vallor talk about where AI is really taking us, sorting the reality from the hype. Sign up now for just £5 per month or £50 a year for 24 bonus episodes https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus New PPF merch is available on our website: choose from a canvas tote bag or a bone china mug https://www.ppfideas.com/merch Next time: Michael Lewis on Sam Bankman-Fried and Effective Altruism Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices