This week:

Ahead of the release of the Barbie movie, Louise Perry writes in her cover piece about how social media is fuelling the cosmetic surgery industry. She argues that life in plastic is not, in fact, fantastic. She joins the podcast alongside the Times’s Sarah Ditum, author of the upcoming book: Toxic: Women, Fame and the Noughties, to discuss the normalisation of plastic surgery. (01:11)

Also this week:

In anticipation of the BBC Proms Philip Hensher writes in The Spectator that classical music has gone from being a supreme cultural statement, to just another curious musical genre. He is joined by Sir Nicholas Kenyon, former controller of BBC Radio 3 and director of the Proms and now opera critic for the Telegraph, to discuss the changing face of the BBC Proms. (16:54)

And finally:

 The Spectator’s Damian Thompson writes about some of the misguided – as he says – initiatives by both the Church of England and the Vatican to engage with popular culture, prompting him to ask: has the Vatican abandoned beauty? He is joined by Fr Lawrence Lew, Prior and Parish Priest at Our Lady of the Rosary and St Dominic. (27:13)

Presented by William Moore. 

Produced by Oscar Edmondson.

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