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Last broadcast on Mon, 1 Mar 2010, 21:30 on BBC Radio 4 (see all broadcasts).
Synopsis
Anthony Julius tells Andrew Marr how far he thinks anti-Semitism pervades English culture*, while Alexander McCall Smith argues against the hegemony of the English language, in favour of Scots. Jonathan Safran Foer explores what we eat and why and whether meat is murder and Graciela Chichilnisky explores the links between danger, risk, climate change and changing behaviours.
* In the course of this critical discussion about if and when anti-Zionist opinions may be characterised as anti-Semitic there was reference to Mr George Galloway. We are happy to make it clear that we did not intend to suggest that Mr George Galloway is in fact anti-Semitic.
ANTHONY JULIUS
In his latest book, Trials of the Diaspora, lawyer and author Anthony Julius chronicles the history of anti-Semitism in England. The exhaustive history details the shameful incidences of persecution and prejudice, from the expulsion of Jews from medieval England to the twentieth century anti-Semitism of insult and exclusion. Anthony Julius also examines anti-Semitism in English literature and the impact of anti-Semitic literary caricatures like Shakespeare’s Shylock, and talks about the contemporary situation for English Jews and his belief that anti-Semitic language has found legitimacy in anti-Zionism and hostility towards Israel.
Trials of the Diaspora: A History of Anti-Semitism in England is published by Oxford University Press.
JONATHAN SAFRAN FOER
Novelist Jonathan Safran Foer did not plan to write a book about becoming a vegetarian. He simply wanted to investigate where the meat we eat comes from, how it is farmed and how we treat the animals that we rear for food. Eating Animals is the product of his interrogation into the meat industry and makes for uncomfortable reading on the truth about factory farmed meat. Jonathan Safran Foer discusses the wider implications of our ever increasing consumption of meat and why vegetarianism is often a contentious issue.
Eating Animals is published by Hamish Hamilton.
GRACIELA CHICHILNISKY
Professor Graciela Chichilnisky worked extensively on the Kyoto Protocol, designing the carbon market that became international law in 2005. She is an expert in managing risk and argues that our current system for calculating risk massively underestimates the chance of rare but devastating catastrophes, like the financial crash or climate change. Professor Chichilnisky talks about how catastrophes play a part in our decision making process, why we should be taking emotions into account in economic theory and discusses our inability to act decisively in the face of long-term risks like climate change.
Graciela Chichilnisky is taking part in the second annual Editorial Intelligence symposium, Names Not Numbers, at Portmeirion in North Wales 26-28 February.
ALEXANDER MCCALL SMITH
Alexander McCall Smith is best known for his No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series, which has been translated into forty-five languages. But his latest children’s book, a prequel to his bestselling series about the adventures of Botswanan detective Precious Ramotswe, will be available exclusively in Scots for the first year, after which it will be translated into other languages. Eighty-five percent of Scottish adults speak the language, but reading and writing in Scots is far less common. Alexander McCall Smith talks about raising the profile of Scots and bringing the language to a worldwide readership.
Precious and the Puggies is published by Itchy Coo Books.
Broadcasts
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Mon 1 Mar 201009:00
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Mon 1 Mar 201021:30
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