What function do ceremonies like Armistice Day perform? How do we balance desires for reconciliation with feelings about revenge? How we remember wars and what commemoration means is much less settled than we might think. And that throws up questions, in times when conflicts are spreading close to us in western Europe, of how wars end and how we balance our concern for justice and peace with darker impulses?

Joining presenter Anne McElvoy for BBC Radio 4's roundtable discussion about the ideas shaping our world are:

Producer: Ruth Watts

"Doom-prepping" tech billionaires have been in the headlines recently and whether it’s ecological crisis or a breakdown in law and order, fear of societal collapse seems to lurk in the background of a lot of discussion in politics and wider society. But what does it mean? When has it happened in the past? Can we avoid it – or survive it – in the future? Joining presenter Shahidha Bari for Radio 4's roundtable discussion about the ideas shaping our world are:

Producer: Luke Mulhall

From economics to dreams: Anne McElvoy and guests consider the value of irrationality. How often is emotion, instinct and unsound thinking behind the decisions taken by governments, financial markets and citizens? And does it matter if long term strategic thinking relying on calm assessments of the trade offs, conventional wisdom and the lessons of experience take a back seat. Is there a value in irrationality? Guests include: Bronwen Maddox, Director and CEO of Chatham House, the international think tank; Lionel Barber, author of Gambling Man: The Wild Ride of Japan's Masayoshi Son; Salma Shah, who sits on the boards of Policy Exchange and the Centre for Science and Policy at the University of Cambridge; Patrick Foulis, the foreign editor at the Economist and, Jonathan Egid, philosopher and BBC/AHRC New Generation Thinker.

Producer: Ruth Watts

From military ceremonies to folk customs - can traditions really provide an answer to nationalism and boost local pride? Former MP Penny Mordaunt is publishing a book called Pomp and Circumstance: Why Britain's Traditions Matter written with Chris Lewis. She's one of Matthew Sweet's guests in the Free Thinking studio alongside

Producer: Robyn Read

Science is one of the major sources of authority in society today. Scientists develop technologies to make our lives easier and more comfortable. They fight diseases, they have identified and are helping to combat climate change. Yet developments like AI, and some areas of genetic science, seem to raise ethical dilemmas that scientists on their own can't address. And at a time when the authority of 'experts' has been challenged, where does that leave the authority of scientists? Shahidha Bari discusses science in society with theologian Dr Dafydd Mills Daniel, who's been working on Samuel Clarke, known as Newton's Bulldog, as a case study in the status of science in 17th century England, and Dr Sandra Knapp, researcher at the Natural History Museum and chair of the judges of this year's Royal Society Trivedi Science Book Prize. Also Hannah Devlin, science correspondent for The Guardian, Nick Spencer, Senior Fellow at Theos, and geneticist, author and broadcaster Adam Rutherford.

Producer: Luke Mulhall

What does living a good life involve? Michael Rosen's new book is called Good Days and offers suggestions to brighten our daily lives. Dr Sophie Scott-Brown is a research fellow at St Andrews' Institute of Intellectual History. The Rev'd Fergus Butler-Gallie has spent time working in the Czech republic and South Africa and ministering in parishes in Liverpool and London. His most recent book is Twelve Churches: An Unlikely History of the Buildings that made Christianity. Dr Rachel Wiseman lectures on philosophy at the University of Liverpool and explored the impact of the relative absence of women philosophers. Sudhir Hazareesingh is a Fellow and Tutor in Politics at Balliol, Oxford and author of "Daring to be Free: Rebellion and Resistance of the Enslaved in the Atlantic World, which raises questions about the Enlightenment's exclusion of enslaved people from the universal vision of a good society.

The six books shortlisted for the Wolfson History Prize 2025 which will be announced on December 2nd are:

• Embers of the Hands: Hidden Histories of the Viking Age by Eleanor Barraclough (Profile Books)

The judges for the Wolfson History Prize 2025 are Mary Beard, Sudhir Hazareesingh, Helen King and Diarmaid MacCulloch, with the panel chaired by David Cannadine.

Producer: Jayne Egerton

In party conference season, we look at what bonds party members and what it means to create a new network with its own shared beliefs and rituals. What light can the big thinkers from the worlds of anthropology and sociology shed? From political tribes to criminal gangs, from social media to social class - how do shared beliefs, rituals, rules and values bond us together - and pull us apart?

Anne McElvoy is joined by Kit Davis, emeritus professor of anthropology at the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London; Lynsey Hanley writer and author of Estates and Respectable: The Experience of Class; Adele Walton, Journalist and author of Logging Off; Alistair Fraser, professor of criminology at Glasgow University; assistant editor of The Spectator and political journalist and Isabel Hardman; and, Rebecca Earle, Professor of History and Chair of the British Academy Book Prize

Shortlist for the British Academy Book Prize announced on October 22nd:

Producer: Ruth Watts

The French philosopher Michel Foucault though friendship could be one of the most subversive relationships around. Our friends can be the most important people in our lives. But managing friendships can be hard work too. Matthew Sweet is joined by a psychotherapist, a historian, a philosopher, a literary historian, and a film critic to discuss the history, politics, and psychology of friendship.

Tiffany Watt Smith is the author of Bad Friend: A Century of Revolutionary Friendships

Producer: Luke Mulhall

Shahidha Bari looks at censorship, editing and self-censorship with guests including historian of China, Rana Mitter, Jemimah Steinfeld of Index on Censorship and Nigel Warburton, host of the Philosophy Bites podcast. Amelia Fairney discusses her research on sensitivity readers and the conversations that take place in publishing houses. And, Nicola Wilson, who’s been studying reading recommendations from The Book Society which operated in the UK between 1929 and 1968. The book selectors sometimes suggested changes to the published texts so we hear about this history and look at publishing now.

Nicola Wilson's book Recommended! The influencers who changed how we read is out now

Producer: Ruth Watts

Anne McElvoy and guests explore the intersections between Christian faith and political decision-making and look at some recent dramas which explore the impact of belief.

Chine McDonald is director of the Christian Think Tank Theos, Mark Lawson is a writer, broadcaster and theatre critic of Catholic journal The Tablet, Prof Anna Rowlands is St Hilda Professor of Catholic Social Thought & Practice at the University of Durham, Dafydd Mills Daniel is a Lecturer in Divinity at the University of St Andrews and Sam Tanenhaus, has published a biography of influential American conservative thinker and Catholic, William F Buckley Jnr. called Buckley: The Life and the Revolution That Changed America.

Producer: Debbie Kilbride