A special end-of-year edition of the podcast, with highlights, including: Sudhir Hazareesingh came on thew show back in March, ahead of the French election, to share his thoughts on Emmanuel Macron, the underdog philosopher-politician soon to become President; before Weinstein and #metoo, Charlotte Shane drew our attention to problems and divisions in feminism, and called for responsible, serious literature to take things forward; Clive Stafford-Smith, liberal lawyer and campaigner against the death penalty, on the rise of 'kill lists', an almost-blatant programme of state-sanctioned murder that goes on around the world; finally, in 2017 we marked the bicentennial of the death of Jane Austen by inviting Austen expert Claire Harman for a game of “rank your favourite Austen novels”. A refresher for regular listeners and a sampler for newcomers – with thanks to all.  

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