Past Present Future23 Nov 2025

The Rise and Fall of Homo Sapiens

Today’s episode explores some very big picture history: David talks to palaeontologist and science writer Henry Gee about the story of the human species from origin to peak to inevitable decline. When and how did Homo sapiens see off the competition from its rivals in the human and animal world? Why did that point mark the start of an inexorable drift towards extinction? In what ways are our strengths as a species also our fatal weaknesses? And how near are we to the end? Part two of this conversation, which takes the story of human species from the hunter-gatherer period to the present and beyond to explore how long we have left, is available tomorrow on PPF+. To get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening sign up to PPF+ now https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus Henry Gee’s The Decline and Fall of the Human Empire is available wherever you get your books https://bit.ly/4pshODe Read more by David about depopulation and human extinction in the current issue of the London Review of Books https://bit.ly/43FEwiO There are still a few tickets remaining for the next film in our autumn 'Films of Ideas' season at the Regent Street Cinema in London: join us on Friday 28th November for a screening of Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind followed by a live recording of PPF with special guest Beeban Kidron https://bit.ly/4a78KyZ Next time – Now & Then with Robert Saunders: Thatcher @100 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Episoder(310)

The Great Political Fictions: The Golden Notebook

In today’s episode David explores Doris Lessing’s bold and brilliant The Golden Notebook (1962), a book about female emancipation, political disillusionment and much, much more. Why did Lessing insist...

31 Mai 1h

The Great Political Fictions: Brave New World

For the first in a new set of episodes about some of the great political fictions of the past hundred years David explores Aldous Huxley’s much misunderstood dystopian masterpiece Brave New World (193...

27 Mai 1h 5min

Live Film Special: Good Night, and Good Luck w/Helen Lewis

Today’s episode was recorded in front of a live audience at the Regent Street Cinema in London: David talks to the writer and broadcaster Helen Lewis about George Clooney’s Good Night, and Good Luck (...

24 Mai 1h 2min

The Starmer Crisis in Historical Perspective – Part 2: What’s Next?

Today it’s the second of our episodes trying to make sense of what’s happening in British politics with a bit of historical perspective: this time asking what is likely to follow from the current cris...

20 Mai 1h 3min

The Starmer Crisis in Historical Perspective – Part 1

Today it’s the first of two episodes in which we try to make sense of what’s happening in British politics with a bit of historical perspective: how did we arrive at the current crisis and what might ...

17 Mai 1h 13min

Where Are We Going? The Future Of Work

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13 Mai 1h 2min

Live Film Special: The Third Man w/Misha Glenny

Today’s episode was recorded in front of a live audience at the Regent Street Cinema in London: David talks to the writer and broadcaster Misha Glenny about Carol Reed’s 1949 masterpiece The Third Man...

10 Mai 56min

Now & Then with Robert Saunders: The General Strike @100 Part 2

Today it’s the second part of David’s conversation with historian Robert Saunders about the meaning of the 1926 General Strike on its hundredth anniversary. How did the strike end and was its outcome ...

6 Mai 1h 1min