Politics on Trial: The Haymarket Eight vs the Police
Today’s political trial is one of the most notorious in American history: eight men charged with and convicted of murder in 1886 for a terrorist outrage that none of them committed. A bomb had been th...
3 Aug 202557min
Politics on Trial: John Brown vs Slavery
Today’s great political trial concerns the prosecution and execution of John Brown in 1859 for his raid on Harper’s Ferry in the attempt to free America’s slaves, an event that helped precipitate the ...
31 Jul 202558min
Politics on Trial: Aaron Burr vs the Constitution
For today’s epic political trial, David talks to American historian and PPF regular Gary Gerstle about the treason trial of Aaron Burr in 1807. Why was Burr not put on trial for killing Alexander Hami...
27 Jul 202555min
Politics on Trial: Louis XVI vs the People
Today’s epoch-making political trial concerns the interrogation, conviction and execution of Louis XVI at the heart of the French Revolution in 1792-3. For many at the time and since this event had po...
24 Jul 202559min
Politics on Trial: Warren Hastings vs the British Empire
To start our new instalment of episodes about the most consequential political trials in history David explores the trial of the eighteenth century: the impeachment of Warren Hastings that ran in the ...
20 Jul 20251h 3min
The History of Bad Ideas: Identity
For the final episode in our current series on the history of bad ideas, David talks to philosopher Alexander Douglas about the damage that can be done by the idea of identity. Why is the search for a...
17 Jul 20251h 1min
The History of Bad Ideas: Behaviourism
In today’s episode of the history of bad ideas, David talks to political philosopher Alan Finlayson about behaviourism, a theory of psychology that has penetrated to the heart of politics. How did we ...
13 Jul 20251h 4min
The History of Bad Ideas: Polycrisis
Today’s bad idea is one with a short history but a big reach: the term polycrisis only came into being at the end of the last century but now it seems to be everywhere. David talks to historian Gary G...
10 Jul 202559min
