Free Thinking

Egyptian-American journalist Mona Eltahawy argues the Middle East Needs a Sexual Revolution. Oxford scholar Theodore Zeldin celebrates the hidden pleasures of life and one of 2014 New Generation Thinkers, Preti Taneja reports on Romeo and Juliet performed in Kosovo.

Are work and progress making us inhuman? Anne McElvoy is joined by Steve Hilton, a former Senior Advisor to David Cameron, and Peter Fleming, Professor of Business and Society at City University, London. Actor Julian Glover performs an extract from Beowulf and talks about reworking the Old English poem for the stage. And New Generation Thinker Lucy Powell joins director Simon Godwin to discuss a new production of The Beaux' Stratagem at the National Theatre.

Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz discusses income inequality. Novelist Alain Mabanckou reflects on the experiences of the African diaspora in France. Presented by Philip Dodd.

Matthew Sweet is joined by Colm Toibin to discuss the poetry of Elizabeth Bishop; Beth Shapiro on cloning mammoths and Fareed Zakharia, the American news presenter and journalist, makes the case for a liberal education.

A week on from the election, Anne McElvoy turns to three historians - Tim Bale, Krista Cowman and Jon Lawrence - to offer their views on the dramatic changes to the UK's political landscape; writer Xinran talks about the consequences of China's one-child policy, and Anne has a first night review of High Society at the Old Vic directed by Maria Freedman.

To mark Dante's birth 750 years ago, Philip Dodd chairs a Landmark discussion about his poem The Divine Comedy, with Prue Shaw, author of 'Reading Dante', scholar Nick Havely, the poet Sean O'Brien and writer Kevin Jackson.

Matthew Sweet is joined by former Labour strategist Alastair Campbell, epidemiologist and advocate for a healthy gut Tim Spector, journalist Michael Goldfarb, and Dr Luke Evans to consider the role our guts play in matters of politics, culture and beyond. Art historian and biographer Frances Spalding offers her verdict on a new ballet from Wayne McGregor, Woolf Works. And ahead of receiving an honorary Palme D'Or at Cannes this year, octogenarian Agnes Varda discusses her double life as celebrated filmmaker and artist.

Anne Enright, Ireland's first Laureate for Fiction, talks to Anne McElvoy about her new novel The Green Road. The economist Richard Layard and Professor of Psychology David M. Clark discuss the economics of psychological therapy. Plus, Christopher Hampton on translating the plays of Florian Zeller.

Philip Dodd in extended conversation with the actor Antony Sher whose recent roles include Willy Loman and Falstaff.

Matthew Sweet talks to Hugh Aldersey-Williams, Claire Preston and Gavin Francis about the mind-adventures of doctors in time and space. Sir Thomas Browne was a man fascinated by everything from nature to religion, to the shock of the new. How does his story resonate now?