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UnHerd’s Jonny Ball meets historian, academic, and author Anton Jäger to discuss his new book ‘Hyperpolitics: Extreme Politicization without Political Consequences’, charting the pronounced shift in engagement and death of political institutions since the 1980s via analysis of movements like Brexit, BLM, and the rise of the far-Right.

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Recorded live in the bookshop, this conversation dives into the inventive world of Perspectives, Laurent Binet’s historical novel that transforms Renaissance Florence into the scene of a gripping whodunnit. The discussion explores how a real painter’s death becomes the catalyst for a dazzling literary experiment: a murder investigation told entirely through letters, gossip, and competing testimonies.

The author reveals how the book blends meticulous archival research with narrative play—treating history not as a fixed record but as a puzzle assembled from partial truths. From the politics of ducal courts to the working lives of artists and artisans, the episode uncovers a city in creative and ideological upheaval, grappling with what comes after artistic perfection.

At once detective story, art-history meditation, and sly reflection on storytelling itself, this is a lively exploration of how the past can feel startlingly contemporary—and how every account depends on who’s holding the pen.

Buy Perspectives: https://www.shakespeareandcompany.com/books/perspectives-4

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Laurent Binet lives and works in France. His first novel, HHhH, was an international bestseller which won the prestigious Prix Goncourt du premier roman, among other prizes. The 7th Function of Language won the Prix de la FNAC and Prix Interallié. Civilisations is a bestseller that has won the Grand Prix de l'Académie française.

Adam Biles is Literary Director at Shakespeare and Company.

Listen to Alex Freiman’s latest EP, In The Beginning: https://open.spotify.com/album/5iZYPMCUnG7xiCtsFCBlVa?si=h5x3FK1URq6SwH9Kb_SO3w

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Do you feel like you're sleepwalking through the week? Instead of reaching for your third coffee of the day, consider tweaking your lifestyle habits. Gut health expert Dr. Amy Shah explains how small changes in your diet and sleep can help you naturally recharge. And to get that spring in your step again, experts share how to find something that lights you up from within.

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Rebecca Goldstein is an American philosopher, and novelist of 'The Mind Body Problem'. Goldstein examines the human need to feel that one’s life matters, and the ways people justify their existence through relationships, achievements, fame, and moral purpose.

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Executive Producer: Rachel Barrett

special thanks to Suzi Jamil!

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Explicitness is one of the fundamental mysteries in which our lives are wrapped. Our capacity, as conscious subjects, to make things explicit, so that what-is presents itself as “that-it-is” or “that-it-is-the-case” is at the heart of the mystery of human being. Philosopher Raymond Tallis explores how explicitness connects with fundamental ontological, metaphysical, and epistemological questions.

Tallis' latest book, Circling Round Explicitness: The Heart of the Mystery of Human Being, is available for purchase now: https://amzn.to/3MUX5Ke

Booker Prize-winner George Saunders takes us back to that space between life and death in his new novel, Vigil, leading to a fruitful conversation about providing comfort at the end of life, why repentance at the end might not make the difference and why he’s always happiest raising questions and providing no answers.

In this episode, we sit down with John Patrick McHugh, who reads an excerpt from his piece "Voice, voice, voice" (Tolka, Issue Ten).

We discuss self-esteem, the negotiation between voice and style,  and what your position in football says about your literary instincts.

Music by Lemzly Dale

The Hong Kong publisher Jimmy Lai will die in prison, after being sentenced to 20 years. Lai is one of the island's most prominent pro-democracy advocates, and his newspaper Apple Daily was founded to be a voice for press freedom on the island that is increasingly under China's thumb.

• Guest: Antony Dapiran, a writer, lawyer, and photographer who was based in Hong Kong from 1999 to 2025. His latest book is City on Fire: The Fight for Hong Kong.
• Producer: Alex Tighe

When society, financial systems and human beings fall short, how can we repair the damage? Tom Sutcliffe hosts Radio 4's discussion programme which starts the week, exploring the social, moral and political contradictions of the world we face today, with US novelist George Saunders, Turkish writer Ece Temulkuran and investigative journalist Oliver Bullough,

The Booker Prize winning novelist, George Saunders new book Vigil deals with the moral ambivalence of a greedy oil executive; the death bed reckoning of a man who resists facing his life and legacy.

In an investigation of money laundering, Oliver Bullough's Everybody Loves Our Dollars sets out the scale of the problem and why we are failing to tackle the global systems that allow illicit money to move freely using sites as varied as Bicester Shopping Village in Oxfordshire and a casino in Vancouver, Canada.

Producer: Ruth Watts