Power: A User's Guide
Arts & Ideas4 Jun 2025

Power: A User's Guide

Political power can take many forms, from the top-down model of the Roman Empire, to operating in the democratic politics of today, to the possibilities offered by new technologies for more horizontal power structures in the future.

Matthew Sweet is joined on a stage at the Hay Festival by historian Tom Holland, whose new translation of Suetonius’ Lives of the Caesars examines Roman power politics from the inside; Guto Harri, who saw the inside workings of power as Downing Street Director of Communications; Adam Greenfield, whose book Lifehouse looks at local networks of mutual aid that have emerged in response to climate crisis; and political philosopher Sophie Scott-Brown - whose book The Radical Fifties: Activist Politics in Cold War Britain is out in July.

Producer: Luke Mulhall

Episoder(2000)

Humility

Humility

From Spinoza's thinking and the approach of different religions to the Dickens' character Uriah Heep and the "humble brag" - in Radio 4's late night ideas discussion programme Matthew Sweet and guests...

27 Mar 56min

Oral tradition and oracy

Oral tradition and oracy

Oracy - the ability to express oneself fluently - has been included in plans to modernise the national curriculum, with a new focus on equipping young people with the skills they need for life and wor...

20 Mar 56min

Taste

Taste

'It's all in the best possible taste'. But what does it mean to have good taste? And does pursuing good taste lead to favouring style over substance? Who are the thinkers who have considered a philoso...

16 Mar 56min

Women, language & experience

Women, language & experience

In a special programme looking ahead to International Women’s Day on March 8th, Shahidha Bari looks at how women express themselves in language, argument, poetry and art. Her guests include:Sara Ahmed...

6 Mar 56min

Authority

Authority

Is authority a justly unfashionable quality that we should consign to the past? Or does it still have a place in political and business leadership, schools, medical settings and in the home? What is t...

27 Feb 57min

Crime and punishment medieval to modern

Crime and punishment medieval to modern

How have attitudes to punishment changed over time, and what ideas about the rationale for punishment are circulating today? In Radio 4's roundtable discussion programme, Matthew Sweet and guests expl...

20 Feb 56min

Working Class Creativity

Working Class Creativity

From an impoverished neighbourhood in South London, Charlie Chaplin became one of the most significant figures in the development of cinema. More recently, TV writers like Sophie Willan and Michaela C...

13 Feb 56min

Is Might Right?

Is Might Right?

'The strong do what they will, the weak suffer what they must'. So claimed the powerful Athenians, according to the Ancient Greek historian Thucydides. Plato tried to demonstrate that might does not m...

6 Feb 56min

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