Past Present Future

Today’s episode explores the trials of Nelson Mandela, variously charged by South Africa’s apartheid state with treason, incitement, illegal foreign travel, sabotage and conspiracy across a decade that saw him more...

Today’s episode is about a momentous trial and the incendiary book that followed: the trial was of Adolf Eichmann, convicted by an Israeli court in 1961 of orchestrating the Holocaust, and the book was Hannah Arendt’s...

Today we return to our series about epoch-making trials with the case of the book they tried and failed to ban. In 1960 Penguin Books was prosecuted at the Old Bailey under the new Obscene Publications Act (1959) over...

David talks to novelist Ian McEwan, who was our first ever guest on PPF, about how the future will view our present once the disasters we are brewing come to pass. How might humanity scrape through the rest of the...

Today’s episode is the second part of David’s conversation with historian Robert Saunders about the life and legacy of Margaret Thatcher. What is the meaning of Thatcherism in the twenty-first century? Why is she still...

Today’s episode in our occasional series about momentous political anniversaries with historian Robert Saunders looks at the life and legacy of Margaret Thatcher one hundred years on from her birth. What made Thatcher...

Today’s episode explores some very big picture history: David talks to palaeontologist and science writer Henry Gee about the story of the human species from origin to peak to inevitable decline. When and how did Homo...

Part two of David’s conversation with historian Chris Clark asks whether the best historical insights into Trump-like leadership come from comparison with kings or commoners, democrats or dictators. Does Trump’s...

Today’s episode is the first of a two-part conversation with historian Chris Clark exploring how German history might help us understand Trump-like leadership, but not through looking at the Nazi period. Instead, David...

Today’s episode is the second part of David’s conversation with historian Julian Jackson about the case of Marshal Pétain and the crimes of the Vichy regime. Did Pétain really play a ‘double game’ in which he tried to...

Today’s episode is the first of two on the extraordinary treason trial of Marshal Pétain in the summer of 1945 that ended up putting wartime France in the dock. David talks to historian of modern France Julian Jackson...

Today’s episode is the first of two exploring the origins, conduct and legacy of the Moscow Show Trials that Stalin staged from 1936-38. David talks to historian of Russia Edward Acton about what motivated these...

We return to our series about the most significant trials in history with the trial of the twentieth century: Scopes ‘Monkey’ (1925), which was meant to be about a Tennessee schoolteacher but became a battle between...

Today’s episode was recorded in front of a live audience at the Cheltenham Literature Festival: David talks to Bruno Maçães and Sarah Wynn-Williams about who is winning in the fight for control between China and...

In today’s episode the two Davids try to answer some of the hundreds of questions, comments and suggestions we have had in response to this series, ranging from the very broad to the very specific. How do we know if...

For the final episode in this series David talks to historian Ayse Zarakol about the prospects for democracy in the age of strongman politics, from Trump to Erdogan, from Orban to Modi. Where did the strongmen come...

In our penultimate episode in this series David talks to writer Sam Freedman about whether democracy can cope with the demands of the social media age. Are we really more vulnerable to disinformation than we have ever...

In this special live episode recorded in front of pupils from Hill House and Hayfield schools in Doncaster, David talks to political scientist Rob Ford about whether Nigel Farage is really going to be the UK’s next PM...

David talks to political theorist Alan Finlayson about what’s gone wrong with political speech and how it can be improved. Why do so many contemporary political arguments feel so sterile? What can we learn from the...

In today’s episode David talks to political historian David Klemperer about whether voting should be required by law and what might change if non-participation was no longer an option. Why have some countries made...

In today’s episode David talks to Alan Renwick from UCL’s Constitution Unit about the pros and cons of referendums. When does a democratic question need to be put direct to the people? Do some countries do it better...

The second part of David’s conversation with Robert Saunders marking the 40th anniversary of Neil Kinnock’s party conference speech attacking the Militant tendency takes the story up to the present and beyond. Was...

Today’s episode in our occasional series with Robert Saunders to mark momentous events in British political history explores the lasting consequences of a speech delivered 40 years ago this week. Labour leader Neil...

In today’s episode on how to fix democracy David talks to political scientist Nic Cheeseman about how to stop governments rigging elections around the world, from Africa to the United States. How widespread is the...

David talks to Claudia Chwalisz, founder and CEO of Democracy Next, about how citizens’ assemblies could help fix what’s wrong with democracy. Where does the idea of a jury of citizens chosen at random to answer...