Arts & Ideas

Poet Andrew McMillan, philosopher and psychologist Laura Mucha, poet and novelist Lavinia Greenlaw & writer Elanor Dymott explores who and why we love. Presented by Anne McElvoy.Laura Mucha has written Love Factually: the science of who, how and why we love Andrew McMillan's new book of poetry is called Playtime Lavinia Greenlaw's novel In the City of Love's Sleep is out in paperback and her new book of poetry is called The Built Moment Elanor Dymott's latest novel Slacktide is out now. It follows her first novel Every Contact Leaves a Trace. Producer Fiona McLean

West Africa has a fundamental place in the shaping of the modern world and its story is told in a new history by Toby Green. He joins Rana Mitter in the Free Thinking studio alongside Xue Xinran who explores China's recent history through the lives and relationships of one family and Dennis Duncan of the Bodleian Library muses on why the English needed English dictionaries and the desirability of a universal language. A Fistful of Shells: West Africa from the Rise of the Slave trrade to the Age of Revolution by Toby Green is out now The Promise: Tales of Love and Loss by Xue Xinran is out now Babel: Adventures in Translation 5 February 2019 — 2 June 2019 at Bodleian Libraries, ST Lee Gallery, Weston Library, Oxford

The film-maker Spike Lee talks to Matthew Sweet about black power and prejudice, the politics of blackface, and the Oscars as his film BlacKkKlansman is nominated for six Academy Awards. Since 1983, his production company has produced over 35 films. His first film in 1986 was a comedy drama She's Gotta Have It filmed in black and white which he turned into a Netflix drama in 2017. In 1989 Do The Right Thing was nominated for Best Original Screenplay in the Academy Awards. Best Picture that year went to Driving Miss Daisy. Spike Lee has been awarded Best Adapted Screenplay at the 2019 BAFTAs for BlacKkKlansman - which is on general release at UK cinemas certificate 15. Producer: Zahid Warley.

Self-knowledge, intellectual vices & conspiracy theories are debated by Professor Quassim Cassam and presenter Matthew Sweet. Plus New Generation Thinker Simon Beard discusses an exhibition of artwork commissioned by the Cambridge Centre for the Study of Existential Risk. And a re-release of Rainer Werner Fassbinder's 1973 sci-fi TV series Wire World on a Wire takes us into cybernetics and artificial life. Quassim Cassam's new book is called Vices of the Mind. Ground Zero Earth curated by Yasmine Rix runs at the Centre for the Study of Existential Risk February 15th - March 22nd 2019. Producer: Debbie Kilbride

Jimmy Wales talks Diderot & collecting knowledge + Tariq Goddard on Mark Fisher aka k-punk. The French writer Diderot was thrown into prison in 1749 for his atheism, worked on ideas of democracy at the Russian court of Catherine the Great and collaborated on the creation of the first Encyclopédie. Biographer Andrew S. Curran and Jenny Mander look at Diderot's approach to editing the first encyclopedia. Plus writer and publisher Tariq Goddard on the work and legacy of his collaborator and friend, the critical theorist Mark Fisher who analysed the culture of Capitalism following the economic crash of 2008. Shahidha Bari presents. Diderot and the art of Thinking Freely by Andrew S Curran is out now. k-punk: the collected and unpublished writings of Mark Fisher (2004-2017) edited by Darren Ambrose is out now. Producer: Luke Mulhall

Gilet jaune and novelist Edouard Louis, food expert Fabio Parasecoli, journalist, Gavin Mortimer and the historians Jerry White & Joanna Marchant with Philip Dodd. Whether it’s Berlin, Moscow or the Paris of the gilet jaunes - streets play a vital role in our history and culture. They're focal points of celebration and of protest ; they're gathering places for the young and old; places for a promenade or for fânerie; they're where the homeless build makeshift shelters and where musicians busk: they're also where we refresh our jaded palates; they are by definition, theatrical. Yellow vest and novelist, Edouard Louis is the author of Who Killed My Father, The End of Eddy and History of Violence. Historian Jerry White is the author of London in the 18th Century: A Great and Monstrous Thing Joanna Marchant is head of Widening Participation at King's College, London Fabio Parasecoli is Professor in the Department of Nutrition and Food Studies at New York University. Gavin Mortimer is a journalist based in Paris. He writes for The Spectator magazine.Producer: Zahid Warley

Conceptual artist Katie Paterson on art which produces candles scented with planetary odours – one of Saturn's moons has a hint of cherry…and how she and co-exhibitor the Romantic painter JMW Turner share an interest in the precise nature of moon light. Writers Julia Blackburn and Charlotte Runcie on the gaze of the beachcomber and searching for lost worlds along the tideline and Cutty Sark curator Hannah Stockton explains why the story of the famous tea cutter is one of survival. A place that exists only in moonlight: Katie Paterson & JMW Turner at Turner Contemporary Margate until May 6th 2019 Katie Paterson's First There is a Mountain project will tour 25 coastal beach locations from 31 March to 27 October 2019 Time Song: In Search of Doggerland by Julia Blackburn mixes personal history with the archaeological evidence for the Mesolithic peoples who lived on the land beneath the North Sea. Salt On Your Tongue - Women and the Sea by Charlotte Runcie describes her pregnancy and the death of her grandmother, set against shore walking and myths of women and the sea from ancient Greece to Scottish folk song. Cutty Sark 150 includes a range of events at Royal Museums Greenwich including a performance by the BBC Singers and of the Pirates of Penzance. You can hear a Free Thinking Landmark discussion of The Odyssey with Karen McCarthy Woolf, Amit Chaudhuri, Emily Wilson and Daniel Mendelsohn https://bbc.in/2S2QuiE and a discussion of Mermaids with Imogen Hermes Gowar and Sarah Peverley https://bbc.in/2FPeEH5Producer: Jacqueline Smith

Can causing offence be a good thing? Philip Dodd explores this question with the Slovenian philosopher, the American author and the Danish journalist. On the 15th February 1989 the Ayatollah Komeni issued a fatwah following the publication of Salman Rushdie’s novel The Satanic Verses. Flemming Rose is the man who published the Danish cartoons of the prophet Mohammed and ignited international controversy. Slavoj Zizek has been called the most dangerous philosopher in the West; and Camille Paglia, the cultural critic and intellectual provocateur considers the topics she can and can’t teach now in the lecture theatres of America’s universities.Like A Thief In Broad Daylight: Power in the Era of Post-Human Capitalism by Slavoj Zizek is out now. Provocations: Collected Essays by Camille Paglia is out now. Flemming Rose is the author of The Tyranny of Silence, and a senior fellow at the Cato Institute, Washington DC.Our Free Thinking arts & ideas playlist looking at Culture Wars and Discussions about Identity can be found here https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06jngzt Producer: Zahid Warley

Following this year’s Holocaust Memorial Day, Anne McElvoy looks at new writing which reflects on this history and at a festival marking the impact on British culture of refugees and artists who fled from the Nazis. Ed Williams from leading marketing firm Edelman sifts through the fall-out from Davos. Martin Goodman's novel J SS Bach is published in March 2019. Daniel Snowman's books include The Hitler Emigrés: The Cultural Impact on Britain of Refugees from Nazism. Monica Bohm-Duchen has edited a book Insiders/Outsiders: Refugees from Nazi Europe and their contribution to British visual culture and initiated a festival which is working with 60 nationwide partners including Tate Britain, National Portrait Gallery, London Transport Museum, Pallant House Gallery and Glyndebourne. More information can be found at https://insidersoutsidersfestival.org/ Free Thinking past programmes include a debate about historical understandings of the holocaust and interviews with survivors https://bbc.in/2U86TzP Producer: Torquil MacLeod

Kate Maltby, Lucy Powell, Zoe Strimpel join Shahidha Bari. Virtue Rewarded is the subtitle of Samuel Richardson's 1740 novel Pamela, which began as a conduct book before he turned it into the new literary form of the novel. Playwright Martin Crimp has taken this book as the inspiration for his latest work When We Have Sufficiently Tortured Each Other. Shahidha Bari & guests debate consent then and now + news of the £40,000 Artes Mundi 8 Prize which is awarded tonight in Cardiff.The Artes Mundi 8 shortlisted artists are Anna Boghiguian (Canada/Egypt); Bouchra Khalili (Morocco/France); Otobong Nkanga (Nigeria/Belgium); Trevor Paglen (USA); Apichatpong Weerasethakul (Thailand). The exhibition runs at the National Museum Cardiff until Feb 24th 2019. New Generation Thinker Des Fitzgerald reports. Martin Crimp's play When We Have Sufficiently Tortured Each Other is directed by Katie Mitchell and stars Cate Blanchett. It runs at the National Theatre in rep until March 2nd 2019. Producer: Luke Mulhall