A Point of View

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Recent episodes (10)

• Anniversary Cornucopia 10 Feb 2012

  Fri, 10 Feb 12

  Duration:
  10 mins

  Historian David Cannadine surveys the current crop of anniversaries and finds a cornucopia of dates to prompt reflection.

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• Email etiquette 03 February 2012

  Fri, 3 Feb 12

  Duration:
  10 mins

  Lisa Jardine reflects on the perils of over-hasty emails compared with the time allowed for reflection by old fashioned letter writing.

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• The Thatcher Story 27 Jan 2012

  Fri, 27 Jan 12

  Duration:
  10 mins

  The historian Lisa Jardine reflects on the portrayal of Margaret Thatcher in the film "The Iron Lady", and considers the complexities of portraying the lives of both public and private figures.

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• Volume Control 20 Jan 2012

  Thu, 19 Jan 12

  Duration:
  10 mins

  Lisa Jardine reflects on her aversion to today's new sources of noise and traces the history of some attempts at noise abatement.

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• The Nature of Gardening 13 Jan 2012

  Fri, 13 Jan 12

  Duration:
  11 mins

  The historian Lisa Jardine recalls the seventeenth century Lord Chancellor, and keen gardener, Sir Francis Bacon as she reflects on the art of gardening, as both pure human pleasure and a means of self advancement.

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• Information Overload 6 Jan 2012

  Fri, 6 Jan 12

  Duration:
  11 mins

  Lisa Jardine reflects that information overload is not a new problem. "By the seventeenth-century there was widespread anxiety that the sheer volume of available knowledge was getting out of hand." There were also fears that wars and unrest could obliterate knowledge through the destruction of archives. Nowadays, losing knowledge completely is harder thanks to the internet, but the need to sift it is as great as ever.

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• Glamour in austerity 30 Dec 2011

  Fri, 30 Dec 11

  Duration:
  11 mins

  Lisa Jardine remembers 2011 for the spectacle of the Royal Wedding, reflecting on the historic power of regal glamour in times of austerity. Queen Elizabeth I "used ostentation and opulence in her dress as a political tool to increase national confidence in the solvency of her regime."

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• The Memory Business 29 Dec 2011

  Thu, 29 Dec 11

  Duration:
  15 mins

  Simon Schama reflects on how the world - ten years on - remembered the events of 9/11. And he ponders why it's vital to remember. "Ten years is an aeon in tweet-time", he writes, but 9/11 "bleeds - in every sense - into today's front pages".

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• Media Malpractice 28 Dec 2011

  Wed, 28 Dec 11

  Duration:
  15 mins

  Will Self reflects on the depth of the malpractices revealed by the Leveson inquiry into the media. It "has drawn the attention of people outside the Westminster and Fleet Street villages to the existence of a systematically corrupt and corrupting dimension to public life in this country. Whether or not it results in a purgative strong enough to clean these Augean stables seems doubtful."

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• The Meaning of Debt 27 Dec 2011

  Tue, 27 Dec 11

  Duration:
  14 mins

  Sarah Dunant looks back on 2011 and reflects on the meaning of the word "debt". While deploring the "catastrophe" of the debt ridden economy, she sees a debt in the positive sense as owing to the protest movements, both in the Arab world and camped outside St Paul's Cathedral."What it is saying is that we need an altogether deeper, bigger conversation than we have yet to manage about how we change the direction of the world in which we live."

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