Past Present Future

Now & Then with Robert Saunders: Gladstone vs Disraeli Part 2 (Burnham vs Badenoch)

In the second part of David’s conversation with historian Robert Saunders about the impact of the Bulgarian crisis of 1876 on the course of British politics, they discuss how Gladstone used the contro...

2026-09-09

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Now & Then with Robert Saunders: Gladstone vs Disraeli – The Bulgarian Horrors

In our occasional series with historian Robert Saunders about significant political anniversaries, we remember the appearance of a pamphlet exactly 150 years ago that changed the course of British pol...

2026-09-06

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The Lives of the Philosophers: Jean-Paul Sartre

In today’s episode exploring how twentieth-century philosophy and biography intersect David talks to philosopher and biographer Kate Kirkpatrick about Jean-Paul Sartre, a thinker whose life has been a...

2026-09-02

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The Lives of the Philosophers: J. L. Austin

David talks to philosopher and author Nikhil Krishnan about the life and times of a little known but highly influential twentieth-century philosopher: J. L. Austin, who believed that the deepest truth...

2026-08-30

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The Lives of the Philosophers: Camus

In our series about how twentieth-century philosophy and biography intersect, David talks to philosopher Alex Carter about the life of Albert Camus, novelist, playwright, journalist, celebrity and pub...

2026-08-26

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The Lives of the Philosophers: Simone Weil

The second life we explore in our series about the twentieth-century philosophers could not be more different from the first: David talks to philosopher Alex Carter about Simone Weil, who died aged ju...

2026-08-23

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The Lives of the Philosophers: A. J. Ayer

Today we begin a new series exploring twentieth-century philosophy through the lives of the people behind the ideas. First up David talks to philosopher Nikhil Krishnan about A. J. Ayer, the man who h...

2026-08-19

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Forensics on Trial

In today’s episode David talks to forensic anthropologist Sue Black about what happens when forensic science and forensic expertise end up on trial in the courtroom. When and how did scientists get in...

2026-08-16

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The History of Bad Ideas: Overdiagnosis

We come to the end of this series of bad ideas with a conversation with neurologist Suzanne O’Sullivan about the problems of living in an age of diagnosis, when all medical conditions need a label and...

2026-08-12

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The History of Bad Ideas: Short-Form Video

Today’s bad idea is one with a very recent history but also a long backstory: David talks to author and journalist James Marriott about what happens when the written word gets supplanted by video and ...

2026-08-09

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The History of Bad Ideas: Decadence

Today’s bad idea is also one that is very hard to pin down: David talks to writer and literary scholar Ian Ellison about the concept of decadence, which went from explaining the fall of ancient Rome t...

2026-08-05

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The History of Bad Ideas: The Romantic Hero

Today’s bad idea spans literature, film, pop culture and plenty else besides: David talks to literary critic and memoirist Catherine Taylor about what’s wrong with romantic heroes, from Byron and Heat...

2026-08-02

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The History of Bad Ideas: The Electoral College

Today’s bad idea is one the United States has been stuck with for a long time: David talks to historian of America Adam Smith about the damage done by the idea of the electoral college. Why was it tho...

2026-07-29

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The History of Bad Ideas: Utilitarianism

Today’s episode in the history of bad ideas is about one of the central ideas in modern philosophy: utilitarianism, or the view that what matters is the greatest happiness of the greatest number. Davi...

2026-07-26

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The History of Bad Ideas: Political Leadership is What Counts

Today’s bad idea is a pervasive political myth: the notion that what really matters at election time is political leadership. David talks to political scientist Jane Green about why leaders are less i...

2026-07-22

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The History of Bad Ideas: Celebrity

David talks to historian and broadcaster Greg Jenner about the surprising history of the idea of celebrity, from Roman generals to 18th-century child stars to contemporary pop culture icons. How is ce...

2026-07-19

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The History of Bad Ideas: Deliverism

Today’s episode is about a bad idea with a very recent history: David talks to political historian David Klemperer about the dangers of deliverism. When did the view that delivering for the voters is ...

2026-07-15

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The History of Bad Ideas: Narrative History

Today’s bad idea is a way of doing history: David talks to historian Alec Ryrie about the seductions and pitfalls of narrative history. Why do we need more Herodotus and less Thucydides? What makes so...

2026-07-12

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The History of Bad Ideas: Hysteria

For the first in a new set of episodes about bad ideas with interesting histories David talks to the writer and broadcaster Helen Lewis about hysteria, an ancient idea that became a very modern diagno...

2026-07-08

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Where Are We Going? The Future of the Future

In the second part of their conversation about what has happened to our ideas of the future David and Ivan Krastev explore where the future is going next. Why do our expectations of what comes after u...

2026-07-05

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Past Present Future

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