A Point of View
Summary: Weekly reflections on topical issues from a range of contributors including historian Lisa Jardine, novelist Sarah Dunant and writer Alain de Botton.
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- Artist: BBC Radio 4
- Copyright: (C) BBC 2015
Podcasts:
David Cannadine reflects on the history of presidential inaugurations and how American presidents since Abraham Lincoln have crafted their speeches when it's second time around.
Will Self laments what he sees as an absence of rational urban planning in our big cities and a fashion for dramatic sky scrapers driven by short term commercial values.
Will Self says he would rather commit suicide than die a slow, painful death and would like society to find his choice more acceptable than at present.
Will self reflects on Britain's confused relationship with the U.S. Taking the Tom Stoppard plays his American mother took him to see in the 70s as his starting point, he says that our relationship with our friends across the pond changed little in the last 40 years.
Will Self takes a historic foodie tour and explores how we've gone from being a culinary backwater to being "the most food-obsessed nation in Europe - if not the world".
Will Self warns against the false prophets of the new priesthood of economics.
Will Self reflects on the effect of technology throughout his six decades and how it has affected his perception of the passage of time.
Onora O'Neill reflects anew on the theme of trust, which was the subject of her Reith lectures.
Mary Beard on why "customer satisfaction" surveys have no place in universities and pines for the days when students were able to tell their professor their lectures were rubbish.
Mary Beard ponders questions of privacy, archaeology and restoration as she wanders through the rooms of a new exhibition about Pompeii, the "City of the Dead".
Mary Beard reflects on the age of consent and argues that accidents of history often determine how we choose to criminalize or regulate.
Mary Beard on the long history of the rich looking down their noses - sometimes with a hearty Roman snort - at the poor.
Martin Jacques presents a personal view on how best to understand the unique characteristics and apparent mysteries of contemporary China, its development and its possible future. In his final talk, he asks how the undemocratic Chinese state can enjoy legitimacy and authority in the eyes of its population.
Martin Jacques presents a personal view on how best to understand the unique characteristics and apparent mysteries of contemporary China, its development and its possible future. In this third talk, he explores the nature of race in China.
Martin Jacques presents his personal view on how best to understand contemporary China, its development and its possible future.