Free Thinking Folgen

The archaeologist Francis Pryor tells Shahidha Bari about a lifetime of building vistas of our history and prehistory through the evidence of pottery shards, holes in the mud and broken bones and palaeo-archaeologist Paul Pettitt who co-discovered Britain's first cave art explains why darkness informed a critical component in the development of the human brain and archaeologist Ruth Whitehouse reflects on the use of caves for ritual. They are joined by Sharon Robinson-Calver who has been tasked with the on-going conservation of a piece of London's fatberg and poet Sean Borodale whose latest collection arises from field studies in grave yards, caves and mines. Together they discuss why the past draws them back and how that past signposts itself. Francis Pryor 'Paths to the Past' is out on March 1st 2018 Paul Pettitt, Professor of Archaeology, University of Durham and Member of the Behaviour, Ecology and Evolution Research (BEER) Centre Ruth Whitehouse, Emeritus Professor of Prehistoric Archaeology, University College London Sean Borodale 'Asylum' is out on March 1st 2018 Sharon Robinson-Calver, Head of Conservation and Collection Care at Museum of London: Fatberg! on show until July

Red tape or accountability? Matthew Sweet is joined by Lord Robin Butler, former head of the home Civil Service, writer and lecturer Eliane Glaser and Professor André Spicer whose recent book looks at meaningless management speak. Deborah McAndrew talks about her stage adaptation of Charles Dickens' Hard Times which examines the results of purely utilitarian education. And journalist Richard Lloyd Parry's new book is an account of the tsunami of 2011 - Japan's biggest loss of life since the bombing of Nagasaki.Richard Lloyd Parry’s Ghosts of the Tsunami: Death and Life in Japan’s Disaster is out now Japan Now is at the British Library in London 25 February with events also taking place at Sheffield on Saturday 24th - Programmed by Modern Culture in partnership with the Japan Foundation and Sheffield University, at The Forum in Norwich on Saturday and at the University of Manchester on Monday. Business Bullshit by André Spicer is available nowHard Times is at The Viaduct Theatre, Halifax, until 24 February, then The Dukes, Lancaster, from 27 February until 3 March - check the Northern Broadsides website for further dates.

We should ignore newspaper headlines, believe that things are getting better and defend Enlightenment values. That's the message from Steven Pinker, Professor of Psychology at Harvard University. He debates his defence of progress and his optimistic outlook with Philip Dodd. Plus culture wars in Britain. Are the divisions we are seeing today different to previous culture wars? Eliza Filby, Alex Massie & Tarjinder Gill debate. Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress by Steven Pinker is out now. Eliza Filby is the author of God and Mrs Thatcher and a Visiting Lecturer at Kings College, London. Alex Massie is Scotland Editor of The Spectator and a columnist for The Times and The Sunday Times Tarjinder Gill is a writer and teacher who blogs on race and identity issues at AllinBritain. Producer: Robyn Read