Arts & Ideas

‘Technologies of the self’ is a phrase from the French philosopher Michel Foucault to describe things people might do to shape the people they are, like dieting, exercise, journaling, or in an earlier age perhaps like prayer, or confession. Shahidha Bari hosts Radio 4's roundtable discussion programme asking how this idea might help us make sense of the age of social media influencers and lifestyle trends.
Her guests are:
Elizabeth Oldfield, host of The Sacred podcast, author of Fully Alive: Tending The Soul In Turbulent Times
Anouchka Grose, psychotherapist and author of The Revolution Will Be Internalised
Tiffany Watt Smith, historian of emotions whose most recent book is Bad Friend: On Joyous Imperfect love
Heather Widows, philosopher and author of Perfect Me: Beauty As An Ethical Ideal
and
Daniele Lorenzini, philosopher and Foucault scholar
Producer: Luke Mulhall
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From taking the middle ground to the mid-life crisis, Middle England to middle managers, to being a middle child - is occupying a position in the middle out of fashion?
Anne McElvoy hosts Radio 4's ideas discussion programme and her guests this week for a middling conversation are:
Journalist Catherine Carr. Her new book Who's the Favourite?: The Loving, Messy Realities of Sibling Relationships explores being a middle child and the relevance of birth order
Writer and broadcaster Mark Lawson, who has written novels set in middle England
Symeon Brown, home affairs correspondent at Channel 4 news, whose forthcoming book is The Good, the Black and the Boujee: The Story of Britain's New Black Middle Class
Adrian Wooldridge, journalist, author and Global Business Columnist at Bloomberg Opinion. His recent book is entitled Centrists of the World Unite! The Lost Genius of Liberalism.
and
Claire Ainsley, former adviser to Keir Starmer, now at the Progressive Policy Institute.
Producer: Eliane Glaser

How do weapons exert real and symbolic power, both now and in history?
Joining Matthew Sweet in Radio 4's round table discussion programme about ideas are:
The former soldier and politician Tobias Ellwood
The sculptor Hew Locke, whose artworks exploring colonial power have featured weaponry
The Renaissance historian Catherine Fletcher, whose latest book is The Firearm Revolution: From Renaissance Italy to the European Empires
The historian and broadcaster Mark Urban, whose books include Tank and Rifles
and
Hailey Austin, Lecturer in Visual Media and Culture at Abertay University who researches comics and videogames.
Producer: Eliane Glaser

How do weapons exert real and symbolic power, both now and in history?
Joining Matthew Sweet are:
The former soldier and politician Tobias Ellwood
The sculptor Hew Locke, whose artworks exploring colonial power have featured weaponry
The Renaissance historian Catherine Fletcher, whose latest book is The Firearm Revolution: From Renaissance Italy to the European Empires
The historian and broadcaster Mark Urban, whose books include Tank and Rifles
and
Hailey Austin, Lecturer in Visual Media and Culture at Abertay University who researches comics and videogames.
Producer: Eliane Glaser

From spiritual cleanliness to purity spirals: Matthew Sweet is joined by guests including David Aaronovitch; Catherine Coldstream, author of Cloistered – My Years as a Nun; Linda Woodhead, Professor of the Sociology of Religion at King's College, University of London; Izabella Scott, author of The Bed Trick; and Louise Brangan, author of The Fallen: The Magdalene Laundries and Ireland’s Legacy of Silence. They’ll be discussing ideas of purity in political ideology, religion, anthropology and the experiences of teenage girls.
Producer Luke Mulhall