One Size Doesn’t Fit All: Democracy is Not Always the Best Form of Government
Democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried. So said Winston Churchill and who would disagree? One man, one vote, the rule of law, equality and a free press. T...
20 Mar 201448min
Sam Harris on the Science of Good and Evil
Where do our ideas about morality and meaning come from? Most people - from religious extremists to secular scientists - would agree on one point: that science has nothing to say on the subject of hum...
13 Mar 20141h 24min
Between You and I The English Language Is Going To The Dogs
Speaking and writing correct English are the hallmarks of an intelligent person. No one who cares about language wants to be caught splitting an infinitive or muddling up ‘infer’ and ‘imply’. Which is...
6 Mar 20141h 44min
Jane Austen Vs Emily Bronte: The Queens of English Literature Debate
Who was the Queen of English literature. Was it Jane Austen with her sensitive ear for the hypocrisy lurking beneath the genteel conversation in the drawing rooms of Georgian England? Or Emily Brontë ...
27 Feb 20141h 59min
Niall Ferguson On The Six Killer Apps Of Western Civilisation
Niall Ferguson is the most brilliant British historian of his generation. In this talk from February 2011, based on his book 'Civilisation: The West and the Rest', he asks how Western civilization cam...
20 Feb 20141h 25min
"Let The Bad Guys Be: The Perils of Foreign Intervention" with David Aaronovitch and Rory Stewart
Some leaders are so objectionable – Bashar al-Assad, Robert Mugabe – that it may seem only right to strain every sinew to get rid of them. But ghastly as their regimes may be, is there any reason to t...
13 Feb 20141h 25min
Daniel Goleman On Focus: The Secret to High Performance and Fulfilment
Psychologist Daniel Goleman shot to fame with his groundbreaking bestseller 'Emotional Intelligence'. The premise of the book, now widely accepted, is that raw intelligence alone is not a sure predict...
7 Feb 20141h 20min
We've Never Had It So Good
It's 2014 and what does Britain have to look forward to? Osborne’s welfare cuts. An umpteenth series of Celebrity Big Brother. Adult children still living at home and cadging off the Bank of Mum and D...
31 Jan 20141h 38min
