Arts and Ideas

Rana Mitter discusses the allure of the missing work of art with the writer Rick Gekoski. Are some works of art more interesting in their absence? New Generation thinkers Corin Throsby and Laurence Scott propose the idea that crowd-funding and social media are changing the relationship of artists and their audiences. Rana talks to the playwright Tanika Gupta about her new play for the RSC, The Empress, opening at the Swan in Stratford. And Ian Macmillan and Julia Jordan discuss the films of the experimental writer BC Johnson who would have been eighty this year.

Howard Brenton discusses his new play The Arrest of Ai Wei Wei with Philip Dodd. Are the BRICS countries set to challenge the World Bank, and realise a power shift from the West and Northern hemispheres to the East and South? Philip discusses with Oscar Guardiola Rivera, Andrew Chesnut and Robert Guest. New Generation thinker Jonathan Healey explains how land reforms brought in by Napoleon in Spring 1813 heralded a profound social change that still affects us today. And a review of Gus Van Sant's latest film Promised Land by Lionel Shriver.

Matthew Sweet asks historian Charles Glass, author of a new book on deserters in World War Two, whether desertion is an act of sanity, and not - as some armed forces have tended to believe - a symptom of mental illness. He also talks to Ben Griffin of the organisation Veterans for Peace, who represents soldiers in current conflicts who seek a way out. Hermione Lee discusses the letters novelist Willa Cather didn't want you to read, and Sandra Hebron and Mary Wild review Pasolini's controversial film Theorem.

Since her death on the 8th April, Baroness Thatcher has been lauded as the greatest peace-time Prime Minister of the 20th century, but also criticised as the most divisive politician of a generation. With such a wide range of views, how can we make sense of the 'Iron Lady'? Samira Ahmed is joined by historians Dominic Sandbrook and Selina Todd, economist Mark Littlewood, writers Peter Hitchens and Will Self, Classicist Edith Hall, and politician and veteran of the Thatcher Government Edwina Currie.

Samira Ahmed talks to American film director Oliver Stone about his documentary miniseries which uses new archive material and little known documents to explore an unconventional account of events that took place during the twentieth century that have shaped America's history. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie discusses her new novel Americanah. As the British Library expands its archiving power by storing every UK Website, plus public tweets and Facebook entries, we ask what lies behind our need to collect everything with AS Byatt and Jane Humphries. And Samira talks to the Estonian composer Eugene Birman about his new cantata Nostra Culpa.

Matthew Sweet visits Amsterdam's Rijksmuseum, home to Rembrandt's The Night Watch, which reopens to the public this month, following a decade of restoration.

Philip Dodd explores one of the classics of social history, The Making of the English Working Class by E P Thompson. Ground breaking and passionately engaged it changed the way we thought about the Industrial Revolution and the men, women and children whose hard labour drove it. Even fifty years after its publication modern historians are in dialogue with the book --arguing with its thesis, qualifying its messages and, in the case of the very bold, claiming to have improved on it. To discuss its status as a landmark of our culture Philip is joined by Maurice Glassman, the political theoretician and erstwhile guru of Ed Miliband's Labour and the historians, Alison Light, Miles Taylor and Emma Griffin.

Church Historian Diarmaid Macculloch joins Anne McElvoy to discuss the role that silence has played in the development of Christianity. David Dewing, director of The Geffrye Museum, argues that the museum sector neglects a focus on the middle classes; historian Selina Todd joins him to debate this idea. Actor Edward Petheridge and gerontologist Raymond Tallis discuss the neurological impact of the two strokes Petheridge suffered whilst rehearsing for the role of King Lear, which is the subject of a new play My Perfect Mind. And film critic Ian Christie remembers the novelist and screenwriter Ruth Prawer Jhabvala.

Is nostalgia for an idea of the NHS is inhibiting clear-eyed debate? Samira Ahmed is joined by columnist Ian Birrell and campaigning GP Jonathon Tomlinson to discuss. Alexandra Harris reviews an exhibition of Paul Nash's work at the Pallant House Gallery. Geneticist and writer Adam Rutherford discusses his latest exploration of the origin and future of life. And the television commissioner and producer John Yorke, whose work includes Life on Mars, Shameless and EastEnders, explores television and storytelling.

What history should children learn and be able to contextualise? And what do they know? Rana Mitter enters the Great British History debate with the historian David Cannadine, Tristram Hunt MP, Sheila Lawlor of the think tank Politeia, Stephen Drew, headmaster of Brentwood County High School in Essex and Professor Dinah Birch of the Universitry of Liverpool.

Sir Nicholas Robert Hytner looks back at his time as the head of the National Theatre in London which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year. Professor Rosi Braidotti discusses her new book The Posthuman with Professor Joanna Bourke. And Award-winning film maker Penny Woolcock reveals her unique involvement in the attempts of two Birmingham inner city gangs to bring peace to their neighbourhoods.

Samira Ahmed talks to international best selling author Mohsin Hamid about his new novel How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia. Susan Aldworth and the editor of the magazine RawVision, John Maizels explore the Wellcome Collection's show of Outsider Art from Japan. Peter Moffat discusses his television series, The Village, starring John Simm and Maxine Peake and to round things off Susannah Clapp reports on the first night of The Low Road - Bruce Norris's follow up to the much garlanded Clybourne Park.

Matthew Sweet talks to acclaimed literary critic James Wood, visits an exhibition on Pompeii & Herculeneum and discusses the legacy of documentary maker Michael Grigsby. Plus the latest film by Francois Ozon, In the House, is reviewed.

As Zimbabwe votes in favour of a new constitution, Anne McElvoy is joined by Albie Sachs, journalist Simon Jenkins human rights lawyer Chibli Mallat to examine whether national constitutions aid or impede democracy. In light of this week’s cross-party deal on press regulation established by Royal Charter, Private Eye editor Ian Hislop and media expert James Curran offer contesting views on the State’s relationship with the press. Susannah Clapp delivers a first night review of The Book of Mormon, the new musical from the creators of South Park. And Simon Morrison discusses Lina Prokofiev, the wife of the composer Sergei, who is the subject of his new biography.

Rana Mitter hosts a special edition of Night Waves as part of Radio 3’s Baroque Spring season, including a visit to Seaton Delaval Hall in Northumberland. Joined by artists and designers, Rana explores the legacy of baroque and its influence today.