What does living a good life involve? Michael Rosen's new book is called Good Days and offers suggestions to brighten our daily lives. Dr Sophie Scott-Brown is a research fellow at St Andrews' Institute of Intellectual History. The Rev'd Fergus Butler-Gallie has spent time working in the Czech republic and South Africa and ministering in parishes in Liverpool and London. His most recent book is Twelve Churches: An Unlikely History of the Buildings that made Christianity. Dr Rachel Wiseman lectures on philosophy at the University of Liverpool and explored the impact of the relative absence of women philosophers. Sudhir Hazareesingh is a Fellow and Tutor in Politics at Balliol, Oxford and author of "Daring to be Free: Rebellion and Resistance of the Enslaved in the Atlantic World, which raises questions about the Enlightenment's exclusion of enslaved people from the universal vision of a good society.
Matthew Sweet hosts the discussion about what it means to be good. The six books shortlisted for the Wolfson History Prize 2025 which will be announced on December 2nd are:• Embers of the Hands: Hidden Histories of the Viking Age by Eleanor Barraclough (Profile Books)
• The Eagle and the Hart: The Tragedy of Richard II and Henry IV by Helen Castor (Allen Lane)
• Multicultural Britain: A People’s History by Kieran Connell (Hurst Publishing)
• Survivors: The Lost Stories of the Last Captives of the Atlantic Slave Trade by Hannah Durkin (William Collins)
• The Gravity of Feathers: Fame, Fortune and the Story of St Kilda by Andrew Fleming (Birlinn)
• The Mysterious Case of the Victorian Female Detective by Sara Lodge (Yale University Press)The judges for the Wolfson History Prize 2025 are Mary Beard, Sudhir Hazareesingh, Helen King and Diarmaid MacCulloch, with the panel chaired by David Cannadine.Producer: Jayne Egerton
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Finding my tribe
In party conference season, we look at what bonds party members and what it means to create a new network with its own shared beliefs and rituals. What light can the big thinkers from the worlds of anthropology and sociology shed? From political tribes to criminal gangs, from social media to social class - how do shared beliefs, rituals, rules and values bond us together - and pull us apart?Anne McElvoy is joined by Kit Davis, emeritus professor of anthropology at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London; Lynsey Hanley writer and author of Estates and Respectable: The Experience of Class; Adele Walton, Journalist and author of Logging Off; Alistair Fraser, professor of criminology at Glasgow University; assistant editor of The Spectator and political journalist and Isabel Hardman; and, Rebecca Earle, Professor of History and Chair of the British Academy Book PrizeShortlist for the British Academy Book Prize announced on October 22nd:
The Burning Earth: An Environmental History of the Last 500 Years by Sunil Amrith
The Baton and The Cross: Russia’s Church from Pagans to Putin by Lucy Ash
The Golden Road: How Ancient India Transformed the World by William Dalrymple
Africonomics: A History of Western Ignorance by Bronwen Everill
Sick of It: The Global Fight for Women's Health by Sophie Harman
Sound Tracks: Uncovering Our Musical Past by Graham LawsonProducer: Ruth Watts
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Friendship
The French philosopher Michel Foucault though friendship could be one of the most subversive relationships around. Our friends can be the most important people in our lives. But managing friendships can be hard work too. Matthew Sweet is joined by a psychotherapist, a historian, a philosopher, a literary historian, and a film critic to discuss the history, politics, and psychology of friendship.Tiffany Watt Smith is the author of Bad Friend: A Century of Revolutionary Friendships
Susie Orbach's books include Between Women: Love, Envy and Competition in Women's Friendships, co-written with Luise Eichenbaum
Stephen Shapiro is Professor of American Literature at the University of Warwick
Alexander Douglas is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at the University of St Andrews and author of Against Identity: The Wisdom of Escaping the Self
Phuong Le is a film critic whose writing appears in Sight & Sound, The Guardian and elsewhereProducer: Luke Mulhall
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Censorship, editing and self-censorship
Shahidha Bari looks at censorship, editing and self-censorship with guests including historian of China, Rana Mitter, Jemimah Steinfeld of Index on Censorship and Nigel Warburton, host of the Philosophy Bites podcast. Amelia Fairney discusses her research on sensitivity readers and the conversations that take place in publishing houses. And, Nicola Wilson, who’s been studying reading recommendations from The Book Society which operated in the UK between 1929 and 1968. The book selectors sometimes suggested changes to the published texts so we hear about this history and look at publishing now.Nicola Wilson's book Recommended! The influencers who changed how we read is out now
Nigel Warburton has written many books on philosophy including A Little History of PhilosophyProducer: Ruth Watts
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Christian faith, politics and culture
Anne McElvoy and guests explore the intersections between Christian faith and political decision-making and look at some recent dramas which explore the impact of belief.Chine McDonald is director of the Christian Think Tank Theos, Mark Lawson is a writer, broadcaster and theatre critic of Catholic journal The Tablet, Prof Anna Rowlands is St Hilda Professor of Catholic Social Thought & Practice at the University of Durham, Dafydd Mills Daniel is a Lecturer in Divinity at the University of St Andrews and Sam Tanenhaus, has published a biography of influential American conservative thinker and Catholic, William F Buckley Jnr. called Buckley: The Life and the Revolution That Changed America.Producer: Debbie Kilbride
Leading thinkers discuss the ideas shaping our lives – looking back at the news and making links between past and present. Broadcast as Free Thinking, Fridays at 9pm on BBC Radio 4. Presented by Matthew Sweet, Shahidha Bari and Anne McElvoy.
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