Arts & Ideas

Anne McElvoy and guests discuss the concentration, distribution and morality of wealth now and look back at An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, published by the Scottish economist and philosopher Adam Smith in 1776, which gives an early account of what builds nations' wealth and introduced concepts such as free markets, the division of labour, and productivity.
Our guests for this episode of BBC Radio 4's Friday night ideas discussion programme are:
Vicky Pryce, economist and business consultant and co-author of Mismanaged Decline What Politicians Won’t Tell You About the Economy
Maha Rafi Atal, Adam Smith Senior Lecturer in Political Economy at the University of Glasgow. The University is holding a series of events to mark the 250th anniversary of the publication of The Wealth of Nations.
Dafydd Daniel, Lecturer in Divinity at the University of St Andrews
Allister Heath, business journalist
Hettie O'Brien, Guardian writer and author of The Asset Class: How Private Equity Turned Capitalism Against Itself
Producer: Eliane Glaser
You can hear another discussion about searching for economic solutions in the most recent episode of Start the Week, Radio 4's Monday morning discussion programme where Tom Sutcliffe was joined by Mariana Mazzucato, Jeremy Hunt and Patrick Foulis.

Freedom is one of the leading values of our society. But with freedom comes responsibility, which is a much more contested principle. Deciding where responsibility lies, and what it means to take it, is the job of the courts. It is also debated in Parliament and in the media. It is often at issue on the psychotherapist’s couch. For Radio 4’s arts and ideas discussion programme, Shahidha Bari gathers a panel of experts who deal with the concept of responsibility in very different contexts. Recorded in front of an audience at the Hay Festival, Shahidha's guests are:
Baroness Hale served as the most senior judge in the UK. Her books include Spider Woman, and With the Law on Our Side
Psychotherapist and artist Philippa Perry. Her books include The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read, How to Stay Sane and now a crime novel Shrink Solves Murder
Philosopher Simon Critchley. His books include On Mysticism, Tragedy: The Greeks and Us, and What We Think About When We Think About Football
Former Downing Street Director of Communications Guto Harri
Producer: Luke Mulhall

The links between food and philosophy, ideas about experimentation, taste and how food and traditions become part of our identity are explored by Matthew Sweet in Radio 4's round-table discussion programme. His guests are:
Author John Lanchester, who writes restaurant reviews and whose latest novel is called Look What You Made Me Do
Food writer Felicity Cloake, who writes a Cook the Perfect column for The Guardian newspaper and has published books called Red Sauce, Brown Sauce: A British Breakfast Odyssey, Peach Street to Lobster Lane: Coast to Coast in Search of Real American Cuisine and now her debut novel The Underdog.
Professor Barry Smith, director of the Institute of Philosophy at the University of London's School of Advanced Study
Philosopher Suki Finn, whose book What's in a Donut Hole? uses food to explore classic philosophical puzzles
Author Samantha Ellis, whose book Chopping Onions on My Heart is a memoir about Iraqi Jewish food, language and culture
Producer: Eliane Glaser

‘Technologies of the self’ is a phrase from the French philosopher Michel Foucault to describe things people might do to shape the people they are, like dieting, exercise, journaling, or in an earlier age perhaps like prayer, or confession. Shahidha Bari hosts Radio 4's roundtable discussion programme asking how this idea might help us make sense of the age of social media influencers and lifestyle trends.
Her guests are:
Elizabeth Oldfield, host of The Sacred podcast, author of Fully Alive: Tending The Soul In Turbulent Times
Anouchka Grose, psychotherapist and author of The Revolution Will Be Internalised
Tiffany Watt Smith, historian of emotions whose most recent book is Bad Friend: On Joyous Imperfect love
Heather Widows, philosopher and author of Perfect Me: Beauty As An Ethical Ideal
and
Daniele Lorenzini, philosopher and Foucault scholar
Producer: Luke Mulhall
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From taking the middle ground to the mid-life crisis, Middle England to middle managers, to being a middle child - is occupying a position in the middle out of fashion?
Anne McElvoy hosts Radio 4's ideas discussion programme and her guests this week for a middling conversation are:
Journalist Catherine Carr. Her new book Who's the Favourite?: The Loving, Messy Realities of Sibling Relationships explores being a middle child and the relevance of birth order
Writer and broadcaster Mark Lawson, who has written novels set in middle England
Symeon Brown, home affairs correspondent at Channel 4 news, whose forthcoming book is The Good, the Black and the Boujee: The Story of Britain's New Black Middle Class
Adrian Wooldridge, journalist, author and Global Business Columnist at Bloomberg Opinion. His recent book is entitled Centrists of the World Unite! The Lost Genius of Liberalism.
and
Claire Ainsley, former adviser to Keir Starmer, now at the Progressive Policy Institute.
Producer: Eliane Glaser