Free Thinking

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Death Comes to Us All Apr 05, 2018

Show notes

Former Bishop Richard Holloway, author of My Father’s Wake Kevin Toolis and palliative care consultant Kathryn Mannix join Philip Dodd to consider mortality. “In this world nothing can be said to be certain except death and taxes” Benjamin Franklin once wrote, but as we face the final curtain what can death teach us about ourselves and the ones we love?

Richard Holloway is a writer, broadcaster and cleric, formerly Bishop of Edinburgh. His books include A Little History of Religion and Leaving Alexandria: A Memoir of Faith and Doubt.

Kathryn Mannix is a pioneer of palliative medicine, who has worked in hospices, hospitals and patients’ homes, helping enhance people’s quality of life as they near death. Kathryn started the UK’s first CBT clinic exclusively for palliative care patients. Her new book With the End in Mind: Dying, Death and Wisdom in an Age of Denial explores the process of dying.

Kevin Toolis is a BAFTA winning filmmaker who has encountered death often in his work as a foreign correspondent in places of famine, war and plague all around the world. In his memoir My Father’s Wake: How the Irish Teach us to Live, Love and Die Kevin asks ‘Why have we lost our way with death?’ He offers both an intimate account of his father’s death and a history of the Irish way of dying.

Producer: Debbie Kilbride

What Do We Mean by "Working Class Writing"? Apr 04, 2018

Show notes

Kit de Waal, Darren McGarvey, Adelle Stripe and Michael Chaplin join Shahidha Bari to examine what we mean by ‘working class writing’. Crowd funding has helped bring a new generation of authors into print but is this because mainstream publishing has neglected diverse voices? What experiences do we want to see on the page and stage? Recorded at Sage Gateshead.

Kit de Waal’s short stories include “Crushing Big”, “I am the Painter's Daughter” and “The Beautiful Thing” - which was broadcast on BBC Radio 4. Her debut novel My Name Is Leon was shortlisted for the Costa First Book Award 2016. De Waal used some of her advance for My Name Is Leon to found the Kit de Waal Creative Writing Fellowship to improve working-class representation in the arts. Her new novel is called The Trick To Time.

Darren McGarvey, author of Poverty Safari, is also known as Loki, a Scottish hip-hop artist, writer and community activist. Darren was rapper-in-residence at Police Scotland’s Violence Reduction Unit.

Adelle Stripe and written 3 collections of poetry and her debut novel Black Teeth and a Brilliant Smile is inspired by the life and work of Bradford playwright Andrea Dunbar. It was shortlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize and received the K Blundell Trust Award for Fiction.

Michael Chaplin has written extensively for TV, radio and theatre. A journalist, TV documentary producer and executive and now full time writer, he created the TV series Grafters and Monarch of the Glen and has written 8 theatre plays and numerous works for radio including Two Pipe Problems and Tommies. He is also the editor of Hame, a collection of essays, short stories and poems by his father Sid Chaplin, the acclaimed writer whose works are mostly set in the North East.

Recorded with an audience at Sage Gateshead as part of BBC Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival.

Producer: Zahid Warley

Introducing the New Generation Thinkers 2018 Apr 03, 2018

Show notes

The New Generation Thinkers is an annual competition run by BBC Radio 3 and the Arts and Humanities Research Council. In this event, recorded with an audience at Sage Gateshead, the 2018 selection make their first public appearance together. Hosted by Eleanor Rosamund Barraclough of the University of Durham and a New Generation Thinker class of 2013.

This year’s specialisms include explorations into 18th-century masculinity and the medical history of George Orwell, early 20th-century vegetarianism in Britain, and how the Ottoman Empire dealt with piracy. Others in the new intake are exploring more contemporary issues, such as the way globalisation is impacting how films are made around the world, or how the ethics of commercial surrogacy in India can be understood.

Dr Ben Anderson Lecturer in Twentieth-Century European History, School of Humanities, Keele University. Dr Gulzaar Barn Lecturer in philosophy at the University of Birmingham, where she is also a member of the Centre for Global Ethics. Dr Daisy Black Lecturer in English Literature at the University of Wolverhampton, who also works as a freelance theatre director, storyteller, writer and arts advisor Dr Dafydd Mills Daniel McDonald Departmental Lecturer in Christian Ethics and Lecturer in Theology Jesus College, University of Oxford Dr Des Fitzgerald a sociologist working at Cardiff university, where he teaches courses on the sociology of science and the sociology of health and illness Dr Sarah Goldsmith Leverhulme Early Career Fellow Centre for Urban History and School of History, University of Leicester Dr Lisa J Mullen Steven Isenberg Junior Research Fellow Worcester College, University of Oxford is writing a book on the novels & journalism of George Orwell Dr Elsa Richardson Chancellor’s Fellow Centre for the Social History of Health and Healthcare Strathclyde University, Glasgow Dr Iain Smith King’s College London His research investigates the impact of globalisation on popular films made around the world. Dr Michael Talbot Lecturer in the History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Middle East Department of History, Politics and Social Sciences, University of Greenwich

Producer: Jacqueline Smith

Building Bridges and Other Megastructures Mar 29, 2018

Show notes

In a space of less than a mile, seven bridges link Newcastle with Gateshead including the distinctive shape of the Tyne Bridge. But what kind of human endeavour goes into imagining and realising such man-made wonders? Newcastle University’s Sean Wilkinson, Erica Wagner author of Chief Engineer, and architect Simon Roberts look at the bond between the visionaries and the grafters with Rana Mitter and an audience at Sage Gateshead.

Erica Wagner is the author of Chief Engineer: The Man Who Built the Brooklyn Bridge, a biography of civil engineer Washington Roebling. Erica is former literary editor of The Times, the author of several books and is a lecturer in English and Creative Writing at Goldsmith’s University of London.

Sean Wilkinson is a Reader in Structural Engineering at Newcastle University whose research includes work on resilient communities, the design of high rise buildings and earthquakes.

Architect Simon Roberts works for Wilkinson Eyre who designed the Gateshead Millennium Bridge and has worked solely on bridge projects for the past decade

Producer: Debbie Kilbride

#Speaking Up Mar 28, 2018

Show notes

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, Afua Hirsch and Tarjinder Gill debate activism, social change and identity with Philip Dodd.

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown is a journalist and broadcaster who regularly comments on immigration, diversity, and multiculturalism. She’s a founding member of British Muslims for Secular Democracy and the author of books including, Exotic England: The Making of A Curious Nation and Refusing The Veil.

Afua Hirsch is a writer and broadcaster. She has worked as a barrister, as the West Africa correspondent for the Guardian, and as social affairs editor for Sky news. Brit(ish) is her first book and was awarded a RSL Jerwood Prize for Nonfiction.

Tarjinder Wilkinson is a primary school teacher working with children from disadvantaged backgrounds in Birmingham, Leicester and London. She blogs on race, culture and identity at All In Britain and writes on the failure of left-wing progressive methods in education, making the case for a more traditional, academic approach for all.

Producer: Zahid Warley

Mass Hysterics Mar 27, 2018

Show notes

Comedians Alexei Sayle, Jen Brister and Sanjeev Kohli join Matthew Sweet to offer a masterclass in making the many laugh. Recorded with an audience at Sage Gateshead.

Jen Brister is a stand-up comedian, writer and actor. She is a regular performer on the UK and international comedy circuits. She has written for BBC Scotland, presented for BBC 6 Music and Juice FM, and has been a regular contributor to magazines and online sites including Diva and The Huffington Post.

Sanjeev Kohli is a comedian, writer, actor and broadcaster. Sanjeev co-writes the Radio 4 sitcom Fags, Mags and Bags and has appeared in Cold Feet, River City and as shopkeeper Navid Harrid in the long running Scottish sitcom, Still Game.

Alexei Sayle was a central figure in the alternative comedy movement in the 1980s and original MC of London’s first modern comedy club, the Comedy Store. As well as writing and performing stand-up and on TV sitcoms, Alexei has also had a hit single, written short stories, novels and non-fiction including Thatcher Stole My Trousers and his series for BBC Radio 4, Alexei Sayle’s Imaginary Sandwich Bar.

Producer: Torquil MacLeod

Can There Be Multiple Versions of Me? Mar 26, 2018

Show notes

Anne McElvoy enlists the help of Diversify author June Sarpong, doctor and medical historian Gavin Francis, performer and transgender activist Emma Frankland and philosopher Julian Baggini to tackle contemporary ideas about the ever changing notions of the self. Recorded with an audience at Sage Gateshead.

June Sarpong is the author of Diversify, a celebration of those who are often marginalised in our society including women, those living with disabilities, and the LGBTQ community. A successful TV presenter and an ambassador for the Prince’s Trust, June is also the co-founder of the Women: Inspiration and Enterprise Network.

Emma Frankland is an international performance and theatre artist. She is the director of None of Us is Yet a Robot, a contemporary performance company that creates work based on 'transgender identities & the politics of transition'.

Gavin Francis is a GP, explorer and author whose Adventures in Being Human considered the landscapes, history and myths of the body. His new book, Shapeshifters: On Medicine & Human Change examines the impact of constant change on our minds and bodies.

Julian Baggini is a philosopher. His books include his latest A Short History of Truth: Consolations for a Post-Truth World, plus The Edge of Reason: A Rational Skeptic in an Irrational World and Freedom Regained: The Possibility of Free Will.

Recorded with an audience at Sage Gateshead as part of BBC Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival.

Producer: Fiona McLean

Rethinking Civilisations Mar 22, 2018

Show notes

As the BBC screens its new arts series, Civilisations, one of the presenters, David Olusoga, joins presenter Philip Dodd, anthropologist Kit Davis and the historian Kenan Malik to consider our different notions of world history from the dawn of human civilisation to the present day.

David Olusoga is a historian, writer and broadcaster who has presented several TV documentaries including A House Through Time; The World's War: Forgotten Soldiers of Empire and the BAFTA award-winning Britain’s Forgotten Slave Owners. His most recent book is Black and British: A Forgotten History.

Dr Kit Davis is a lecturer in social anthropology at the School of Oriental and African Studies who has written about travels across Europe and about Rwanda. She is a regular panellist on BBC Radio 4’s Saturday Review.

Kenan Malik’s books include From Fatwa to Jihad and The Quest for a Moral Compass: A Global History of Ethics. Kenan is a writer, lecturer and broadcaster who presented Nightwaves on BBC Radio 3 and has written and presented radio and TV documentaries including Disunited Kingdom, Are Muslims Hated?, Islam, and Mullahs and the Media.

Recorded with an audience at Sage Gateshead as part of BBC Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival.

Producer: Fiona McLean

Gangs, the Usual Suspects Mar 21, 2018

Show notes

From Brighton Rock and Goodfellas to the streets of Glasgow, London’s East End and Chicago, what’s it really like to be part of a gang and do gangs lead to organised crime? Matthew Sweet calls a meeting with Criminologist Alistair Fraser, journalist Symeon Brown and James Docherty of Scotland's Violent Reduction Unit

Symeon Brown describes himself as an ’activist/writer on youth, justice and urbanism’ and is a journalist for Channel 4 News. He was senior researcher for The Guardian’s investigation team on their in-house study, Reading the Riots about the English riots of 2011.

Alistair Fraser researches gang culture with a particular focus on youth ‘gangs’, street-based teenagers involved in criminal activity in Glasgow, Chicago and Hong Kong. His book Urban Legends: Gang Identity in the Post-Industrial City, was awarded the British Society of Criminology Book Prize.

James Docherty has worked with a leading children’s charity helping young people on the cusp of organised crime and with the ‘Violence Reduction Unit’ in Glasgow. He advocates for change in the way we address the hidden cost of untreated trauma in our communities.

Recorded with an audience at Sage Gateshead as part of BBC Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival.

Producer: Jacqueline Smith.

Power to the People? Mar 21, 2018

Show notes

Anne McElvoy hosts Rod Liddle, associate editor of The Spectator; David Runciman, author of How Democracy Ends; Caroline MacFarland, the head of a think tank promoting the interests of ‘millennials’ and geographer Danny Dorling in an assessment of the influence of people power. Democracy was the most successful political idea of the last century but can it survive the digital age? Recorded with an audience at Sage Gateshead.

David Runciman is Professor of Politics at Cambridge University currently working on a project about the pervasiveness of conspiracy theories in the twenty-first century. David’s books include Politics: Ideas in Profile, The Confidence Trap, and the forthcoming, How Democracy Ends.

Caroline MacFarland is the founder and director of Common Vision (CoVi), an independent think tank with a mission to ‘inspire civic engagement and policy understanding amongst the millennial generation’. Previously, she was managing director at the think tank ResPublica, one of the founding team members of the foundation Power to Change, and a special advisor to the Big Lottery Fund.

Rod Liddle is an associate editor of The Spectator and a columnist for The Sunday Times and The Sun. The author of Selfish Whining Monkeys: How we Ended Up Greedy, Narcissistic and Unhappy, Liddle is a former editor of BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

Danny Dorling is Professor of Geography at Oxford University and the author of Population 10 Billion. His research focuses on housing, health, employment, education and poverty. His recent books include Do We Need Economic Inequality?, The Equality Effect and he co -wrote Why Demography Matters.

Producer: Luke Mulhall

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