Past Present Future

The Great Political Fictions: The Golden Notebook 31.05.2026 1val

In today’s episode David explores Doris Lessing’s bold and brilliant The Golden Notebook (1962), a book about female emancipation, political disillusionment and much, much more. Why did Lessing insist that the novel’s original critics misunderstood what the book was about? What makes her description of joining and then leaving the Communist Party in 1950s London different from any other account? How did a book about mental disintegration capture the essence of the age? Out now on PPF+: a bonus episode about George Orwell’s 1984. Why does a book that is out of date and out of time still haunt everyone who reads it today? To get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening sign up to PPF+ now https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus Join us at the Cheltenham Science Festival this Wednesday 3rd June for a live recording of the podcast with David in conversation with Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, to talk about trust, democracy and knowledge in a divided world. There are a few tickets still available: book now https://www.cheltenhamfestivals.org/events/the-politics-of-trust-lessons-from-wikipedia You can find out everything you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus merch, events and full lists of all episodes including PPF+ bonus episodes on our website https://www.ppfideas.com Next time in The Great Political Fictions: The Golden Notebook Part 2 w/Catherine Taylor Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Great Political Fictions: Brave New World 27.05.2026 1val 5min

For the first in a new set of episodes about some of the great political fictions of the past hundred years David explores Aldous Huxley’s much misunderstood dystopian masterpiece Brave New World (1932). How did Huxley imagine that a future society could be both horribly regimented and crazily libertarian? Why is it Pavlovian conditioning and not genetic engineering that builds the humans of the future? What makes the book eerily prophetic of 21st-century consumer culture? And where does Shakespeare fit in? Do scroll back in your feed for many more earlier episodes of The Great Political Fictions! Out tomorrow on PPF+: a bonus episode about the other great English-language dystopia of the last century – George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four. Why does a book that is out of date and out of time still haunt everyone who reads it today? To get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening sign up to PPF+ now https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus You can find out everything you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus merch, events and full lists of all episodes including PPF+ bonus episodes on our website https://www.ppfideas.com Next time in Great Political Fictions: The Golden Notebook Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Live Film Special: Good Night, and Good Luck w/Helen Lewis 24.05.2026 1val 2min

Today’s episode was recorded in front of a live audience at the Regent Street Cinema in London: David talks to the writer and broadcaster Helen Lewis about George Clooney’s Good Night, and Good Luck (2005). A film about the golden age of journalism and the grim years of McCarthyism, it tells the story of Ed Murrow’s attempt to take down scaremongering and conspiracy theories. Where is McCarthyism at work today? What’s happened to cancel culture? How was early TV like podcasting? And is George Clooney a hero for our times? You can find out everything you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus merch, events and full lists of all episodes including PPF+ bonus episodes on our website https://www.ppfideas.com Next Time in Great Political Fictions: Brave New World Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Starmer Crisis in Historical Perspective – Part 2: What’s Next? 20.05.2026 1val 3min

Today it’s the second of our episodes trying to make sense of what’s happening in British politics with a bit of historical perspective: this time asking what is likely to follow from the current crisis. David talks to historians Robert Saunders and David Klemperer, Hannah White from the Institute for Government and political scientist Rob Ford. Can the current electoral system survive? Are either – or both – of the two main parties about to be replaced? Does Britain need proper devolution? And where do things stand on the prospect of Farage as PM? You can find out everything you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus merch, events and full lists of all episodes including PPF+ bonus episodes on our website https://www.ppfideas.com Next Time: Live Film Special – Good Night, and Good Luck w/Helen Lewis Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Starmer Crisis in Historical Perspective – Part 1 17.05.2026 1val 13min

Today it’s the first of two episodes in which we try to make sense of what’s happening in British politics with a bit of historical perspective: how did we arrive at the current crisis and what might come next? David talks to five experts to get their perspectives on the seemingly endless chaos and the deeper causes that lie behind it. You’ll hear from historians Robert Saunders, Anthony Seldon and David Klemperer along with Hannah White from the Institute for Government and political scientist Rob Ford. How did it all go so wrong for Keir Starmer so quickly? Is this about his failings or is there something much bigger going on? Out now on PPF+: the second part of David’s conversation with Sarah O’Connor in which they discuss what happens when humans and machines work together: do they become more like us or do we become more like them? To get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening sign up to PPF+ now https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus You can find out everything you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus merch, events and full lists of all episodes including PPF+ bonus episodes on our website https://www.ppfideas.com Next Time: The Starmer Crisis in Historical Perspective Part 2 – What Comes Next? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Where Are We Going? The Future Of Work 13.05.2026 1val 2min

David talks to author and journalist Sarah O’Connor, who writes about the changing character of work for the Financial Times, to explore what is happening to the world of jobs and employment in the twenty-first century. What does work mean and why do we do it? What changed when efficiency became the primary measure of human labour? How is the age of AI changing the kind of work we all do? What comes next? Out tomorrow on PPF+: Part 2 of this conversation in which David and Sarah discuss what happens when humans and machines increasingly work together: are they becoming more like us or are we becoming more like them? To get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening sign up to PPF+ now https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus Sarah O’Connor’s new book is We Are Not Machines: The Fight for the Future of Work – it will be out in June and is available for pre-order now https://bit.ly/3R3nIyz You can find out everything you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus merch, events and full lists of all episodes including PPF+ bonus episodes on our website https://www.ppfideas.com Next Time: The Plight of Keir Starmer in Historical Perspective Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Live Film Special: The Third Man w/Misha Glenny 10.05.2026 56min

Today’s episode was recorded in front of a live audience at the Regent Street Cinema in London: David talks to the writer and broadcaster Misha Glenny about Carol Reed’s 1949 masterpiece The Third Man, written by Graham Greene and featuring a notorious film-stealing performance from Orson Welles. It’s a film about friendship and betrayal, double-crosses and double lives, divided loyalties and dubious moralities. It is also all about Vienna, a city with a double life of its own. Everyone involved in this film had something to hide: the question is, what? Join us on Wednesday 20th May at the Regent Street Cinema in London for the next film in our spring and summer season: a screening of George Clooney’s Good Night, and Good Luck followed by a live podcast recording with David and writer and broadcaster Helen Lewis. Tickets available now https://bit.ly/4wfM5tb You can find out everything you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus merch, events and full lists of all episodes including PPF+ bonus episodes on our website https://www.ppfideas.com Next time: Where Are We Going? The Future of Work Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Now & Then with Robert Saunders: The General Strike @100 Part 2 06.05.2026 1val 1min

Today it’s the second part of David’s conversation with historian Robert Saunders about the meaning of the 1926 General Strike on its hundredth anniversary. How did the strike end and was its outcome a foregone conclusion? Why did the government’s political victory turn so quickly into electoral defeat? How close did Britain come to another general strike in the miners’ disputes of the 1970s and 1980s? And what are the prospects for a general strike today? Join us at the Cheltenham Science Festival on Wednesday 3rd June for a live recording of the podcast with David in conversation with Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, to talk about trust, democracy and knowledge in a divided world. Tickets available now https://www.cheltenhamfestivals.org/events/the-politics-of-trust-lessons-from-wikipedia You can find out everything you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus merch, events and full lists of all episodes including PPF+ bonus episodes on our website https://www.ppfideas.com Next time: Live Film Special – Misha Glenny on The Third Man Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Now & Then with Robert Saunders: The General Strike @100 03.05.2026 59min

In today’s episode David talks to historian Robert Saunders about the meaning of Britain’s one and (so far) only general strike on its hundredth anniversary. Was the strike a revolutionary event or an industrial dispute gone wrong? Who won and who lost the battle of ideas? Did it reveal something distinctive about Britain and its politics? Was this a divided nation or one that had more in common than it realised? Join us at the Cheltenham Science Festival on Wednesday 3rd June for a live recording of the podcast with David in conversation with Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, to talk about trust, democracy and knowledge in a divided world. Tickets available now https://www.cheltenhamfestivals.org/events/the-politics-of-trust-lessons-from-wikipedia You can find out everything you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus merch, events and full lists of all episodes and PPF+ bonus episodes on our website https://www.ppfideas.com Next time: The General Strike @100 Part Two - The Legacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Live Film Special: South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut w/Beeban Kidron 29.04.2026 1val 8min

Today’s episode was recorded in front of a live audience at the Regent Street Cinema in London: David talks to film director and campaigner Beeban Kidron about the 1999 film-length version of South Park. In among all the swearing and stupidity is a serious satire of censorship, moral panics and political manipulation. How did a film from the 20th century see so sharply what was coming in the 21st? And how does the satire look now in the age of big tech and social media madness? Plus philosopher Paul Sagar gives us his grand theory of South Park. You can find out everything you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus merch, events and full lists of all episodes and PPF+ bonus episodes on our website https://www.ppfideas.com Next time: Now & Then with Robert Saunders – The General Strike @100 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Talking … Peter Mandelson and New Labour w/Helen Thompson 26.04.2026 56min

In today’s episode David and Helen Thompson explore the tortured relationship between Peter Mandelson and the New Labour project that he helped to create and now seems finally to have destroyed. How has the whole history of New Labour been shaped by its origin in ideas of betrayal? Why did Tony Blair and Gordon Brown both end up depending on Mandelson while despairing of each other? What held their relationships together and what caused them to fall apart? Out tomorrow on PPF+: the second part of this conversation in which David and Helen bring the story up to the present: how does the drama ultimately end? To get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening sign up to PPF+ now https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus Join us on Wednesday 6th May at the Regent Street Cinema in London for the third film in our new season: a screening of The Third Man followed by a live podcast recording with writer and broadcaster Misha Glenny. Tickets available now https://bit.ly/3O5rSEY You can find out everything you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus merch, events and full lists of all episodes and PPF+ bonus episodes on our website https://www.ppfideas.com Next Time: South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut w/Beeban Kidron Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

PPF+: A Taste Of What You’ve Been Missing (Taster 2) 24.04.2026 1val

In today’s extra episode some more highlights from the PPF+ archive in another selection we first put out last summer: here are a few more excerpts we think you might enjoy. In this episode you’ll hear David talking about In the Loop and the question of why politicians do and don’t resign; Robert Saunders on the legacy of Brexit for politics today; Shannon Vallor on why AI is a vision not of the future but of the past; David on the appeal of High Noon for American presidents; and Alec Ryrie on the relationship between Calvinism, Puritanism and the rise and fall of apartheid South Africa. To get these and all of our bonus episodes plus all future bonuses and ad-free listening sign up to PPF+ now. It’s £5 per month or £50 for the year and you will be helping this podcast to keep going and growing. You can also gift a 6-month or a 12-month PPF+ subscription: https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus You can find out everything you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus merch, events and full lists of all episodes and PPF+ bonus episodes on our website https://www.ppfideas.com Next Time: Helen Thompson on Peter Mandelson and New Labour Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

PPF+: A Taste Of What You’ve Been Missing (Taster 1) 23.04.2026 54min

In today’s extra episode some more highlights from the PPF+ archive in a selection we first put out last summer: here are a few more excerpts we think you might enjoy. In this episode you’ll hear David talking to Helen Thompson about Apocalypse Now, David exploring Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, unpicking the relationship between The Futurist Manifesto and fascism, reflecting on Claude Lanzmann’s epic Holocaust documentary Shoah and in conversation with historian Chris Clark about 1848 and the future of liberal politics. To get these and all of our bonus episodes plus all future bonuses and ad-free listening sign up to PPF+ now. It’s £5 per month or £50 for the year and you will be helping this podcast to keep going and growing. You can also gift a 6-month or a 12-month PPF+ subscription: https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus. You can find out everything you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus merch, events and full lists of all episodes and PPF+ bonus episodes on our website https://www.ppfideas.com Tomorrow: Some More Of What You’ve Been Missing Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

PPF+: A Taste Of What You’ve Been Missing (Taster 3) 22.04.2026 1val

Today’s episode features some recent highlights from PPF+ where we have just released our 50th bonus episode. In this selection you’ll hear philosopher Paul Sagar talking about his personal experiences of good and back luck; David talking about what changed for Hiroshima and the world in the moments after the bomb fell; historian of film Harrison Whittaker on the link between It’s A Wonderful Life and Sartrean existentialism; Hannah White from the Institute for Government on why British government doesn’t work at the centre; and historian of Russia Edward Acton on how to understand the confessions at the Moscow Show Trials. Bonus #50 on PPF+ is the fourth and final part of Orwell’s War, looking at why George Orwell feared that the end of WW2 would lead to war without end. To get access to our full archive of 50 PPF+ bonus episodes plus two future bonuses every month and ad-free listening, sign up to PPF+ now. It’s £5 per month or £50 for the year and you will be helping this podcast to keep going and growing https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus You can find out everything you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus merch, events and full lists of all episodes and PPF+ bonus episodes on our website https://www.ppfideas.com Next Time: Helen Thompson on Peter Mandelson and New Labour Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Orwell’s War: Frozen In Time (1942-43) 19.04.2026 57min

Today’s episode in our series about how George Orwell tried – and failed – to make sense of WW2 looks at his response to the vast lurches of fortune from 1942-43 as Hitler’s plans for world domination started to fall apart. Why was Orwell convinced that the summer of 1942 was the last chance for revolution? What persuaded him that Stafford Cripps was the man of the hour? How did his hopes fall apart in 1943? And where did the ideas for 1984 first come from? Out tomorrow on PPF+: the final episode in this series exploring how Orwell tried to make sense of the end of the war, from a Labour election victory he didn’t see coming to a new ‘cold war’ that he anticipated before anyone else. To get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening sign up to PPF+ now https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus You can find out everything you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus merch, events and full lists of all episodes and PPF+ bonus episodes on our website https://www.ppfideas.com Next time – PPF+: Some Of What You’ve Been Missing (Taster 3) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Orwell’s War: False Dawn (1940-41) 15.04.2026 56min

Today’s episode in our new series about how George Orwell tried – and failed – to make sense of WW2 as it was happening looks at the events of 1940 and 1941, from the collapse of France to Hitler’s invasion of Russia. Why did Orwell write in March 1940 that there is something ‘deeply appealing’ about Hitler? What convinced him that Churchill ‘must go’? How close did Britain get to revolution in the summer of 1940? Where did the revolution go? You can listen to David’s earlier episode about Orwell’s The Lion and the Unicorn from our Great Political Essays series on our website here ⁠⁠https://www.ppfideas.com/episodes/history-of-ideas%3A-george-orwell⁠⁠. Or scroll down in your podcast app to find it, originally broadcast on 3rd August 2023. To hear David’s conversation with Alec Ryrie about The Age of Hitler subscribe to PPF+ to get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening ⁠https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus⁠. We put that one out as a PPF+ bonus on 5th July 2025. Next time in Orwell’s War: Frozen In Time (1942-43) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Orwell’s War: The Nightmare (1938-39) 12.04.2026 1val 1min

Today’s episode is the first in a new series about how the greatest political writer of the 20th century tried – and failed – to make sense of the central political event of the century. How did George Orwell respond in real time to the epochal events of the Second World War and how do his struggles relate to the uncertainties of our own time? What did he get right, what did he get wrong and what did he fail to understand at all? How did a writer who had vigorously opposed the war before it started find himself defending it as soon as it was underway? Who or what did he really want to win? And what did Orwell believe was worse than fascism? Join us this Friday 17th April at the Regent Street Cinema in London for the second film in our new season: a screening of South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut followed by a live podcast recording with David and director and campaigner Beeban Kidron. Tickets available now ⁠https://bit.ly/3O5rSEY⁠ And find details of all our upcoming film events here ⁠https://www.ppfideas.com/events⁠ You can find out everything you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus merch, events and full lists of all episodes and PPF+ bonus episodes on our website ⁠https://www.ppfideas.com⁠ Next Time on Orwell’s War: False Dawn (1940-41) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Live Film Special: Metropolitan w/James Marriott 08.04.2026 1val 1min

Today’s episode was recorded in front of a live audience at the Regent Street Cinema in London: David talks to author and journalist James Marriott about Whit Stillman’s Metropolitan, which dissects the lives, loves and reading habits of a group of well-to-do young New Yorkers during deb party season. It is a film about being young and feeling old and fearing that you don’t have a future any more. Is it all over for the UHBs – the urban haute bourgeoisie? Has history left them behind? Or can one more drink, one more after-party and one more conversation about Jane Austen show them the way to a better tomorrow? Join us on Friday 17th April at the Regent Street Cinema in London for the next film in our spring and summer season: a screening of South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut followed by a live podcast recording with David and director and campaigner Beeban Kidron. Tickets available now ⁠https://bit.ly/3O5rSEY⁠ And find details of all our upcoming film events here ⁠https://www.ppfideas.com/events⁠ You can find out everything you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus merch, events and full lists of all episodes and PPF+ bonus episodes on our website ⁠https://www.ppfideas.com⁠ Next Time: Orwell’s War Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Political Conversions: Switching Sides in the 21st Century 05.04.2026 54min

In the final episode of this series David talks to political historian David Klemperer about how political conversion works today. Is this a post-ideological age or have the ideologies simply changed? Is switching sides easier or harder in the age of social media? Who or what might play the role once performed in political conversions by the Soviet Union? Are we still capable of changing our minds? Join us on Friday 17th April at the Regent Street Cinema in London for the second film in our new season: a screening of South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut followed by a live podcast recording with David and director and campaigner Beeban Kidron. Tickets available now https://bit.ly/3O5rSEY You can find out everything you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus merch, events and full lists of all episodes and PPF+ bonus episodes on our website https://www.ppfideas.com Next Time: PPF Live Film Special – Metropolitan w/James Marriott Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Political Conversions: From Trotskyism to Neoconservatism 01.04.2026 1val

In part three of our series about political conversions David talks to historian David Klemperer about the people who left Trotskyism behind – and where they ended up. From 1940s America to contemporary Britain, from the Second World War to the Iraq War, from James Burnham to Claire Fox, stories of one-time revolutionaries who found themselves in a very different place. What links Trotskyism to neoconservatism? And what happens when the renegade outsiders become establishment insiders? Join us on Friday 17th April at the Regent Street Cinema in London for the second film in our new season: a screening of South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut followed by a live podcast recording with David and director and campaigner Beeban Kidron. Tickets available now https://bit.ly/3O5rSEY You can find out everything you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus merch, events and full lists of all episodes and PPF+ bonus episodes on our website https://www.ppfideas.com Next Time on Political Conversions: Switching Sides in the 21st Century Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices