Ideas from the world's biggest thinkers. Hear philosophers, scientists, politicians, novelists, historians and artists challenge each other. Podcast weekly on Saturdays.
Episodes available for:
30 Days 
Sat, 18 May 13
Duration:
41 mins
Available:
29 days remaining
What would it take to fix, rather than just patch up, the underlying flaws in our banking system? Perhaps it’s time for some unorthodox approaches, viewing the problem through the lens of an artist, or re-thinking basic questions: for instance, what money actually is. Joining Bridget Kendall are artist and film-maker Zachary Formwalt, bond trader and economic historian Felix Martin, and Stanford University’s professor of Finance and Economics, Anat Admati.
Sat, 11 May 13
Duration:
41 mins
Available:
22 days remaining
Political decisions are often hard to make, so, in our complex world, should we move from personal responsibility by one leader towards more collective and consensual ways of making choices? Joining Bridget Kendall are Harvard Professor Joseph Nye, who asks how much individual decisions by American presidents mattered over the course of the last century; veteran of the Occupy Wall Street movement, social anthropologist David Graeber, who talks about an alternative way of decision making, a consensus model; dialogue facilitator Martijn de Liefde, who has adapted traditional African techniques to guide decisions in today’s large companies; and Oxford professor Stephen Whitefield, who explains why politicians are increasingly appealing to our emotions.
Sat, 4 May 13
Duration:
41 mins
Available:
15 days remaining
Could silence save your life? This week on The Forum, we listen out for the absence of sound. Is true silence achievable, can it actually aid communication, and when does not speaking guarantee your survival? Joining Bridget Kendall to be noisy about silence are conservationist John Francis, who chose to stop speaking for 17 years, Russian ice artist Galya Morrell and award-winning church historian Diarmaid MacCulloch.
Sat, 27 Apr 13
Duration:
41 mins
Available:
8 days remaining
This week on the Forum we ask if you’re one of us or one of them? Are you for us or against us? Why do we divide our world into two camps, and is it possible for us to move beyond an ‘us and them’ mentality? Joining Matthew Taylor to discuss division and unity are cultural anthropologist Laura Nader, historian David Cannadine and award-winning novelist from Sierra Leone Aminatta Forna.
Sat, 20 Apr 13
Duration:
41 mins
Available:
1 day remaining
Put any prejudices about poisonous toadstools and mould in damp corners out of your mind: this week’s Forum explores fungi as an extraordinarily tough and ecologically friendly building substance that could reshape our world. Plus the hundreds of thousands of species of fungi that have yet to be named and studied: some of them may hold vital clues on how to cure diseases or solve environmental problems. Bridget Kendall is joined by fungal ecologist Lynne Boddy, Danish mycologist and photographer Jens Petersen, and San Francisco-based artist, chef and fungal furniture-maker, Phil Ross.
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