Monday 09:00-09:45
Rpt: Mon 21:30-22:00
Setting the week's cultural agenda.
5 June 2006
This week Andrew Marr is joined by Fleur Adcock, John Bridcut, Neal Lawson and Francesca Klug.
On Wednesday 7 June, FLEUR ADCOCK will become only the seventh woman to win the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry in the award's seventy-three years. The New Zealander, known for the irreverence of many of her poems, one of which describes a dream in which she kisses John Prescott, discusses syntax, language, landscape and friendship. The medal is for her book Poems 1960-2000, published by Bloodaxe Books.
Benjamin Britten, great English composer and paedophile? Following on from his award-winning documentary of the same name, JOHN BRIDCUT'S book, Britten's Children, explores some of the relationships Britten developed with boys on the cusp of adolescence and tells for the first time the story of the great love of his life, Wulff Scherlen, who first met Britten at the age of 13. Britten's Children is published by Faber and Faber.
In the endless speculation about the date of the Prime Minister's departure, the left-wing pressure group Compass gets frequent mention. The Home Secretary John Reid recently described the group's plans for new Labour as 'the kiss of death' for the party. Compass chairman NEAL LAWSON explains how he thinks the left needs to change and why many of us are not as free as we would like to think. Neal has written a pamphlet on freedom and will be speaking at a CentreForum event on 7 June: Three Perspectives on the Meaning of Liberty in the 21st Century.
FRANCESCA KLUG OBE is a research fellow at the Centre for Human Rights. She discusses why she thinks that we have misinterpreted human rights and free expression through our lack of a moral code, and suggests what we can do about it. Francesca speaks against the motion in the debate by Intelligence Squared, in association with the London Jewish Cultural Centre, Freedom of Expression Must Include the Licence to Offend, on 7 June.
Next week: Start the Week has a special programme on Empire with:
Eric Hobsbawm
Niall Ferguson
Robert Beckford
Priya Gopal
Linda Colley
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