A Point of View

Will Self reflects on the epidemic of sleeplessness. He explores the "heady cocktail" of modern life that's keeping us awake and argues that we all need the imaginative sustenance of dreams. Producer: Adele Armstrong.

Will Self on how wearing glasses has become something that is entirely unremarkable. "Nowadays the acquisition of glasses", he writes, "is simply another opportunity for the conspicuous consumption we've all become so very expert at". But he says there are drawbacks to seeing too clearly. He suggests that a National No Glasses Day might be an idea "so we can all wander about the place in blurry bliss". Producer: Adele Armstrong.

"As the years have passed", writes Will Self, "so gnawing on a bloody piece of cow rump has come to seem, to me, more and more...well, vulgar". Via Leviticus and Arcimboldo, he charts his conversion to vegetarianism.And he explains why it's not just personal morals that are "propelling me headlong towards the horror of Quorn"! Producer: Adele Armstrong.

Will Self says we need creative solutions to end institutional misogyny and abuse. "Rather than addressing - as parliamentarians currently are - the business of shutting the stable door after the stallions have run amok", he writes, "we should be thinking about how to keep it closed in the first place".Producer: Adele Armstrong.

Will Self on why he loves space....From childhood dreams of being "strapped into the command module of a Saturn 5 rocket about to blast off from Cape Kennedy" to contemplating 1000-million-star mega-clusters in the sky today, Will describes why space is - for him - "both sublime and restful". Producer: Adele Armstrong.

Mary Beard ponders why email is governed by so few rules and conventions."Fifty years ago, when I was at high school", Mary writes, "we spent many hours learning how to write a letter". She wonders why no one today seems to be teaching the art of writing a persuasive email. Producer: Adele Armstrong.

Andrew Sullivan says a type of "cultural Marxism" is sweeping through American universities. Conservative ideas, he says, are increasingly being banished from campuses and free speech is seen as a delusion. "It's an ideology that is fast resembling a new religion". Producer: Adele Armstrong.

Andrew Sullivan says Donald Trump is teaching a generation that the key to advancement in society is to bully, lie, slander and cheat. He examines the long-term effects of the Trump Presidency. "It may be that in the future", Andrew writes, "his appalling conduct will mark a cautionary tale - and future candidates and presidents will learn not to follow in his steps".Producer: Adele Armstrong.

Andrew Sullivan on how America has become "a truly tribal society". "I've lived here since the Reagan era", he writes, "and there have been plenty of divides. But none quite as tribal or as rooted in non-negotiable identity as this one". He warns of what the outcome might be and reminds the listener that a liberal democracy is always a precarious enterprise. Producer: Adele Armstrong.

Monica Ali with a personal take on why she believes the history of the British Empire must be taught in our schools. She recalls a conversation with her father where he told her that at primary school he'd been taught about the Black Hole of Calcutta and how the British gave India railways. At secondary school - post Independence and Partition, her Dad's history curriculum changed dramatically...it ceased to cast a rosy glow over British rule. When she was at school, Monica was taught nothing about Empire. And with her children, the subject barely got a look-in. "Post Brexit, when the fantasy of a small nation decoupled from the world has never been greater", she writes, "it is time to put the British Empire firmly into the school curriculum". Producer: Adele Armstrong.