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Free Thinking Episodes

  1.

    Syria: hope and poetry

    An architect who lived in Homs during the war, a translator of Adonis and a media analyst

  2. Sylvia Plath, Anne Sexton, and Seamus Heaney. Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi

    How knowledge of poets’ lives shapes how we view their work; Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi

  3. Susie Orbach

    Psychotherapist Susie Orbach challenges the obsession with personal change.

  4. Susan Abulhawa - Gregory Tate - Eugenia Cheng

    Anne McElvoy discusses maths and music with Mathematician Eugenia Cheng.

  5. Surveillance, Conspiracy, and Secrets from the Archives

    Matthew Sweet on surveillance capitalism, The Third Man, and Stieg Larsson's obsessions

  6. Suits. Neil LaBute

    Shahidha Bari explores the history of suits with Anne McElvoy. Plus dramatist Neil LaBute

  7. Sugar

    Matthew Sweet examines how sugar built the modern world

  8. Street Culture, Protests, Food.

    Philip Dodd talks to gilet jaune and novelist Edouard Louis about streets and culture.

  9. Stories of Love

    Romeo and Juliet reworked, Proust and Rita Mae Brown's coming of age tale Rubyfruit Jungle

  10. Stonehenge history

    Anne McElvoy is joined by Neil Wilkin, Mike Pitts, Susan Greaney and Seren Griffiths

  11. Stitching stories

    Shahidha Bari visits new shows of women making art with textiles.

  12. Steven Pinker on Progress

    Steven Pinker explains to Philip Dodd why we should ignore headlines & be more optimistic

  13. Star Trek

    Matthew Sweet with George Takei, Naomi Alderman, Una McCormack and José-Antonio Orosco

  14. Stanley Spencer, Domestic Servants, Surrogacy

    Authors Nicola Upson and Joanne Ramos, and researchers Gulzaar Barn & Ella Parry-Davies.

  15. St Teresa/Vivekananda/Nietzsche

    Rana Mitter discusses three major theorists of religion and self-development

  16. Spy talk

    From a secret Iraqi spy cell to new revelations of cold war exploits. Rana Mitter hosts.

  17. Spike Lee

    The film-maker talks black power, blackface and Academy Awards with Matthew Sweet.

  18. Speech, Voice, Accents and AI Free Thinking

    Lynda Clark, Allison Koenecke and Sadie Ryan discuss their research with Matthew Sweet

  19. Speaking Welsh

    Catherine Fletcher with Richard King, Caryl Lewis, Elen Ifan and Seiriol Davies

  20. Speaking the right language.

    Matthew Sweet asks how did the English language grow & what are the key election phrases?

  21. South Asia: poverty and princes

    Historians Joya Chatterji and Tripurdaman Singh, plus the novels of Kamala Markandaya

  22. South African writing

    Damon Galgut discusses his Booker winning novel, The Promise, with Anne McElvoy

  23. Sound, conflict and central heating

    Matthew Sweet finds out how extreme temperatures changed Erland Cooper's music

  24. Soil, Chickens and City Farms

    Ahead of world soil day, Anne McElvoy looks at changes to both rural and urban farming.

  25. Soil Stories Old and New

    Elizabeth-Jane Burnett, Jules Pretty, Andrew Scott, Philip Coupland, Matthew Kelly

  26. Soil

    John Gallagher and guests dig deep into the significance of soil

  27. Soho

    130 acres of central London synonymous with sex and shadiness immortalised in film

  28. Sneezing, smells and noses

    From Montaigne on sneezing to losing the sense of smell & historians using their noses.

  29. Slow Looking at Art

    Ways of Seeing with Michael Craig Martin, Aura Satz, Kelly Grovier & Daniel Glaser.

  30. Slow Film and Ecology

    Matthew Sweet discusses environmental thinking and a film made about rice over 18 years

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