A Point of View

"For several centuries", writes Rebecca Stott, "the dominant Western version of Nature has been Mother Nature, benevolent, ever-giving, nurturing, bountiful and compliant". This was later replaced by a less compliant and benevolent image....but we've always perpetuated an idea of Nature as something outside us, something to be mastered. Rebecca argues that we need to rethink our relationship with nature - and see ourselves as in nature and part of nature, not outside of it. Producer: Adele Armstrong

"No matter how many times you see the sun rise", writes Will Self, "it doesn't mean it will definitely rise tomorrow - or, indeed, that you'll be there to see it".Will sets out why he has a problem with theory of all sorts and the negative effect “theory addicts” are having on our contemporary intellectual culture.Producer: Adele Armstrong

"Christianity has a lot to answer for," writes Will Self, "when it comes to our estrangement from our bodies - making our evacuations, quite as much as our sexual acts - an anathema in polite society". Will argues that our infantilism in this regard detracts from our engagement with the world. Producer: Adele Armstrong

"That culture can be - and is - being commoditised in the private sector, is a truth universally acknowledged with every ticket and book sale," writes Will Self. But, he argues, the conflating of cultural and financial value has now spread well beyond the private realm. The National Lottery is head of his blame list. "I think of the National Lottery as a sort of reverse Midas-touch, turning everything gold it finances to....rubbish."Producer: Adele Armstrong

"It's well within living memory," writes Sarah Dunant, "that tourism and travel was a wondrous thing."But times have changed: "It feels as if every unnecessary journey we make now has the dull drumbeat of global fragility and climate change in the background."Sarah ponders where foreign travel goes from here. Producer: Adele Armstrong

"Could it be that the only way out at this point is a no deal Brexit of the kind that so many dread?" asks John Gray. He argues that it is the logical conclusion of present events. Producer: Adele Armstrong

"Of late, words have foregone their meaning or been given meanings they never had", writes Howard Jacobson. Starting with "betrayal" and ending with "the will of the people", Howard sets out to take back sovereignty....over words. "I can't complain", he admits, "of some parties to our great national debate being Little Englanders if I'm a little Languager.....but if each party to a discussion doesn't know what the other is talking about, we might as well not have language at all". Producer: Adele Armstrong

Taking his lead from Duke Ellington, Amit Chaudhuri ponders what we mean by “my people”.He asks whether we need to create new, more inclusive, categories fit for modern times in order to describe the groups we belong to.Producer: Adele Armstrong

David Goodhart argues that earlier eras have much to teach us about group solidarity.He explores the changes that have led to our post-industrial disenchantment. "We cannot and do not want to go back to a past when social horizons and life chances were far more limited", he writes, "but a recognition of some of the merits of earlier eras might help us to see more clearly the pathologies of today's achievement society". Producer: Adele Armstrong

Linda Colley argues that we all have a role to play in resolving our present political difficulties. In tough times, she says, there's a long history of people searching for a "modern man on horseback, a populist hero, who they hope will come and rescue them and make the bad things go away". But she says there are many problems with this - the most obvious one being that "leaders of this sort never properly deliver and usually do immense damage". She concludes that all of us must get involved in the work of effective democratic politics. Producer: Adele Armstrong