As farmers prepare for another march at Whitehall in protest at the government's inheritance tax plans, Michael Morpurgo discusses the growing divide between city and countryside.

'The family farm, still at the heart of rural England,' writes Michael, 'is under threat, more than ever'.

Michael reflects on how, during World War Two, we needed to produce all the food we could in order to survive. He argues that, as an island nation, taking food security for granted, even today, is risky.

And he says there is a real sense these days that our pastoral roots are being 'reshaped irrevocably...by those who don't know or love the countryside.'

Producer: Adele Armstrong

Tom Shakespeare explores the pitfalls of dramatised history and its influence on real life - but confesses to his own minor role in rewriting the past.

"We turn to stories when the reality we desire fails us," he writes, "but if the legend is not based in fact, then history is in deep trouble, and so are we all."

Producer: Sheila Cook

From sacks of correspondence belonging to a well known author to archives from the Battle of Waterloo (and the odd wooden leg), Sara Wheeler reflects on the joys of Britain's personal archives.

'I have loved almost every day I have ever spent in an archive,' Sara writes, 'and not just because dead people are so easy to get along with.'

But she fears that idiosyncratic borough and country archives will suffer because of budget cuts.

Producer: Adele Armstrong

Walking along the muddy tracks of the River Ouse near her home a few days ago, Rebecca Stott reflects on migration.

She contemplates the lives of the Canada geese that frequently fly over her home, as well as Aristotle's own studies of bird migration - and his extraordinary life as a migrant - while considering the historic links between the migration of people and human progress.

Producer: Adele Armstrong

The 'overwhelm' - noun, not verb - has been around 'since at least 1596', AL Kennedy discovers.

She looks at the reasons why the word is making a comeback - and she has some advice for those who also feel lost in 'the overwhelm.'

Producer: Adele Armstrong

Remember the days, Howard Jacobson implores us, when we got on fine with 'very'?

Today, Howard argues, 'very’ is not ‘very’ enough for the times we live in.' In its place, 'incredible' and other supersized words, spreading 'verbal chaos.'

Howard reflects on the dangers of over-inflated language, 'where words prance about without their clothes, shouting obscenities.'

Producer: Adele Armstrong

As Donald Trump prepares to re-enter the White House, Mark Damazer reflects on America's leadership in the world.

Eavesdropping on a focus group recently, Mark tells us that the country's leadership was seen as 'a burden and a luxury - and a luxury they wanted to do without.'

'There was a time when large chunks of the world were grateful for American involvement...but gratitude is now more thinly expressed', he says. 'And Donald Trump well understands that.'

In this new world order, Mark argues, 'we have our work cut out to find a response.'

Producer: Adele Armstrong

In deepest, darkest January, Adam Gopnik muses on light and dark.

Adam reminds us that - from the natural world of the ghost moth to the politics of today's America - although we live in a 'gloomy moment' we can 'adjust our eyes to the gloom.'

'Every little bit of light we make,' writes Adam, 'in every decent thing we do and every indecency we refuse to accept, illuminates some small corner of our universe. Even at night, after all, we still see light. The stars shine, too.'

Producer: Adele Armstrong

Sara Wheeler explains why every week for several decades - despite knowing nothing about art - she has called in to London’s National Gallery to look at the same two paintings.

'This habit of mine,' writes Sara, 'started by accident when I moved to London forty years ago' when she first set eyes on Botticelli's 'Portrait of a Young Man' and van Eyck's 'Portrait of a Man.'

'I have come to realise,' says Sara, the extraordinary power of 'familiarity, close contact and regular attention'.

Producer: Adele Armstrong

Megan Nolan rediscovers a childhood diary with her first New Year's Resolutions.

She was fascinated and appalled, she says, by what she read:. The final resolution, underlined, read simply 'be a better person!'

These days, Megan looks on self-improvement in a rather different way - less an attempt at perfection and more 'an attempt to courageously embrace living in all its chaos.'

Producer: Adele Armstrong