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Society & Culture

Start the Week

by BBC Radio 4
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Latest episodes

  • Napoleon’s marshals and President Trump’s civil servants

    October 19, 2026 · 42 min

    What happens when the relationship between leaders and those entrusted to implement policy breaks down? On Radio 4's weekly discussion programme, Adam Rutherford is joined by three guests to explore power, loyalty and the often unseen…

  • Inheritance – from stories to genetics

    October 12, 2026 · 42 min

    What do we inherit from the past and what happens when old stories are told in new ways? On Radio 4's weekly discussion programme, Naomi Alderman is joined by three guests exploring the traces the past leaves behind, in memory, mythology…

  • Jon Ronson: men unravelling

    October 5, 2026 · 42 min

    From crumbling buildings to collapsing certainties, are we living through an age of unravelling? On Radio 4's weekly discussion programme, Tom Sutcliffe is joined by three guests reflecting on the changing cultural forces that shape our…

  • Contains Strong Language Festival in Salford

    September 28, 2026 · 42 min

    In front of an audience at the Contains Strong Language Festival in Salford Tom Sutcliffe is joined by three guests to celebrate poetry ancient and new and to explore the latest innovations in hearing the spoken word. The Poet Laureate…

  • Carlo Rovelli: complexity and value

    September 21, 2026 · 42 min

    What can we really know about the world around us and our place within it? On Radio 4's weekly discussion programme, Adam Rutherford is joined by three guests who explore the values that shape our lives and the things that still matter…

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  • Living with uncertainty

    September 14, 2026 · 42 min

    How do we navigate a world where simple answers are often the most seductive and the least reliable? On Radio 4's weekly discussion programme, Naomi Alderman is joined by three guests who explore how we search for certainty, why we are…

  • Gordon Brown: The Future Starts with Us

    September 7, 2026 · 42 min

    How did we arrive at an age of global instability, conflict and political distrust, and can democracy renew itself? On Radio 4's weekly discussion programme, Tom Sutcliffe is joined by three guests to examine the pressures facing the…

  • Life Online: Power, Risk and Resistance

    June 22, 2026 · 42 min

    How has life online reshaped society in real life? On Radio 4's weekly discussion programme, Tom Sutcliffe is joined by 3 guests who are investigating the digital sphere, and in some cases resisting its ubiquity. The filmmaker Baroness…

  • Working-Class Lives: Identity and Political Fractures

    June 15, 2026 · 42 min

    What has happened to working-class identity in Britain? On Radio 4's weekly discussion programme, Adam Rutherford explores the political fractures within families and communities. Nicola Wilding discusses These Wild English: A Family, a…

  • Scientific discovery and misunderstanding

    June 8, 2026 · 42 min

    How have we made discoveries about the world around us and how has our understanding changed when we got it wrong? Adam Rutherford hosts Radio 4's discussion programme which starts the week, asking about the the nature of scientific…

  • Searching for economic solutions

    June 1, 2026 · 42 min

    What are the biggest problems facing the economy - and how might we set about dealing with them - from inequality to inflation, domestic growth to geopolitics? On Radio 4's weekly discussion programme, setting the cultural agenda every…

  • Mythmaking at Hay: from Medea to Rasputin

    May 25, 2026 · 42 min

    In front of an audience at the Hay Festival, Tom Sutcliffe hosts Radio 4's discussion programme which starts the week, bringing together three thinkers who each, in different ways, examine the stories societies tell about themselves, and…

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About the show

Weekly discussion programme, setting the cultural agenda every Monday