Past Present Future

Live Film Special: South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut w/Beeban Kidron

29 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 K...

Talking … Peter Mandelson and New Labour w/Helen Thompson

26 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In today’s episode David and Helen Thompson explore the tortured relationship between Peter Mandelson and the New Labour project that he helped to c...

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

24 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

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

23 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 thi...

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

22 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s episode features some recent highlights from PPF+ where we have just released our 50th bonus episode. In this selection you’ll hear philo...

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

19 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 for...

Orwell’s War: False Dawn (1940-41)

15 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 1...

Orwell’s War: The Nightmare (1938-39)

12 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

Live Film Special: Metropolitan w/James Marriott

08 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

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 ...

Political Conversions: Switching Sides in the 21st Century

05 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In the final episode of this series David talks to political historian David Klemperer about how political conversion works today. Is this a post-ideo...

Political Conversions: From Trotskyism to Neoconservatism

01 Apr 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In part three of our series about political conversions David talks to historian David Klemperer about the people who left Trotskyism behind – and w...

Political Conversions: Communism – The God That Failed

29 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In today’s episode David talks to political historian David Klemperer about a group of writers and other intellectuals who embraced and then renounc...

Political Conversions: Going Fascist

25 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s episode is the first in a new series of conversations with political historian David Klemperer about what causes people to switch sides, ide...

Live Special: Another American Civil War?

22 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In today’s episode, which was recorded in front of students, parents and teachers from three schools in Oxford, David talks to historian of America ...

Live Special: Is This How Democracy Ends? w/Lyse Doucet, Chris Clark & Thant Myint-U

18 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s episode was recorded last Wednesday in front of a live audience at Friends’ House in London, where David was joined by the BBC’s Lyse Do...

Now & Then with Robert Saunders: The Twists and Turns of the Special Relationship

15 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s episode looks backwards and forwards from 1946 to explore the different ways the UK has imagined the US over time, as friend and as foe, as ...

Now & Then with Robert Saunders: Churchill’s ‘Iron Curtain’ Speech @80

11 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s episode sees the return of our occasional series with historian Robert Saunders looking at significant political anniversaries: this time it...

Where Are We Going? Societal Collapse – The Future

08 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In the fourth and final conversation in this series David talks to Luke Kemp, author of Goliath’s Curse, about where we might be heading. Where doe...

Where Are We Going? Societal Collapse – The Present Day

04 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In today’s episode David talks to Luke Kemp, author of Goliath’s Curse, about the prospects for societal collapse in the 21st century. Are we li...

Where Are We Going? Societal Collapse – The Modern Age

01 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In today’s episode David talks to Luke Kemp, author of Goliath’s Curse, about the strengths and weaknesses of modern states and modern structures...

Where Are We Going? Societal Collapse – Origins

25 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s episode is the first in a series of conversations about what causes human societies to fall apart and what might come next. David talks to L...

Where Are We Going? Nuclear War Part 3

22 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s episode is the third and final of David’s conversations with S. M. Amadae about nuclear weapons and nuclear war, this time looking to the ...

Where Are We Going? Nuclear War Part 2

18 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In today’s episode David talks to S. M. Amadae about what happened when the nuclear age turned into an all-consuming arms race. What is the suppose...

Where Are We Going? Nuclear War Part 1

15 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

For the first in a new series of conversations exploring the future that faces us all, David talks to S. M. Amadae about what nuclear weapons and the ...

What’s Wrong with Political Philosophy? Learning from Bernard Williams and Judith Shklar

11 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s episode explores the ideas of two late-twentieth-century thinkers who argued that political philosophy needs to be concerned with more than ...

What’s Wrong with Political Philosophy? Learning from Max Weber

08 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In the third part of our series David and Paul Sagar explore what the German writer and sociologist Max Weber can teach us about the pitfalls of polit...

What’s Wrong with Political Philosophy? Learning from Adam Smith

04 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In the second episode in our short series about how the history of ideas can help with the deepest puzzles of politics, David talks to political theor...

What’s Wrong with Political Philosophy? Learning from Aristotle

01 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Today it’s the first episode in a new series asking why contemporary political philosophy struggles to make sense of the deepest problems of politic...

Talking Geopolitics with Helen Thompson: The Weirdness of American Power Part 2

28 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s episode is the second part of David’s conversation with Helen Thompson about what makes living in a world dominated by the United States s...

Talking Geopolitics with Helen Thompson: The Weirdness of American Power

25 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

The first of a two-part conversation in which David talks to Helen Thompson about how to understand the extraordinary and unlikely power of the United...

Politics on Trial: The Trial and Execution of Saddam Hussein

21 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

For the final episode in this series David talks to historian and political scientist Glen Rangwala about the trial and execution of Saddam Hussein in...

Politics on Trial: O. J. Simpson vs the Evidence

18 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

For the penultimate episode in this series David examines the criminal trial of O. J. Simpson in 1995 to ask what it reveals about how power really wo...

Politics on Trial: The Gang of Four vs the New China

14 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

In today’s episode David explores the trial that gripped China at the end of 1980: the case against the three men and one woman accused of being res...

Politics on Trial: Muhammad Ali vs. the Draft

11 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s episode is about the epic battle between Muhammad Ali and the US government over its attempt to draft him during the Vietnam war and what ha...

Now & Then with Robert Saunders: Home Rule for Ireland! - The Kite

07 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s episode in our occasional series with historian Robert Saunders on significant political anniversaries looks at the event that blew British ...

Films of Ideas extra: The Designated Mourner

04 Jan 2026

Contributed by Lukas

An extra episode to accompany our Films of Ideas series: David explores The Designated Mourner by Wallace Shawn, the writer and co-star of My Dinner...

Films of Ideas: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind w/Beeban Kidron

31 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today it’s the last in our series of live episodes recorded at the Regent Street Cinema in London: David talks to film director and campaigner Beeba...

Films of Ideas: Wittgenstein w/Nikhil Krishnan

28 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The fourth episode in our season of live recordings from the Regent Street Cinema is about another film that explores the relationship between biograp...

Films of Ideas: Rosa Luxemburg w/Lea Ypi

24 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s episode in our season of live recordings from the Regent Street Cinema looks at the biopic of a revolutionary: Margaretha von Trotta’s Ros...

Films of Ideas: My Dinner with Andre w/Lee Hall

21 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The second episode in our live series from the Regent Street Cinema explores Louis Malle’s My Dinner with Andre (1981), in which two men discuss t...

Films of Ideas: Rope w/Nicci Gerrard & Sean French

17 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today it’s the first in our series of live episodes recorded at the Regent Street Cinema in London: David talks to the crime writers Nicci Gerrard a...

Politics on Trial: Nelson Mandela vs Apartheid

14 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s episode explores the trials of Nelson Mandela, variously charged by South Africa’s apartheid state with treason, incitement, illegal forei...

Politics on Trial: Eichmann in Jerusalem

10 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s episode is about a momentous trial and the incendiary book that followed: the trial was of Adolf Eichmann, convicted by an Israeli court in ...

Politics on Trial: Lady Chatterley’s Lover

07 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today we return to our series about epoch-making trials with the case of the book they tried and failed to ban. In 1960 Penguin Books was prosecuted a...

Ian McEwan on the Present as Future Past

03 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

David talks to novelist Ian McEwan, who was our first ever guest on PPF, about how the future will view our present once the disasters we are brewing ...

Now & Then with Robert Saunders: Thatcher@100 – Her Legacy

30 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s episode is the second part of David’s conversation with historian Robert Saunders about the life and legacy of Margaret Thatcher. What is ...

Now & Then with Robert Saunders: Thatcher@100 – Her Life

26 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s episode in our occasional series about momentous political anniversaries with historian Robert Saunders looks at the life and legacy of Marg...

The Rise and Fall of Homo Sapiens

23 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s episode explores some very big picture history: David talks to palaeontologist and science writer Henry Gee about the story of the human s...

Trump-like Leadership in German History w/Chris Clark: Part 2 – Chancellor, Tyrant, Emperor?

19 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Part two of David’s conversation with historian Chris Clark asks whether the best historical insights into Trump-like leadership come from compariso...

Trump-like Leadership in German History w/Chris Clark: Part 1 – Kaiser Wilhelm II?

16 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s episode is the first of a two-part conversation with historian Chris Clark exploring how German history might help us understand Trump-like ...

Politics on Trial: France on Trial Part 2 – Vichy vs the Jews

12 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s episode is the second part of David’s conversation with historian Julian Jackson about the case of Marshal Pétain and the crimes of the V...

Politics on Trial: France on Trial – Pétain vs De Gaulle

09 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s episode is the first of two on the extraordinary treason trial of Marshal Pétain in the summer of 1945 that ended up putting wartime France...

Politics on Trial: The Moscow Show Trials

05 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s episode is the first of two exploring the origins, conduct and legacy of the Moscow Show Trials that Stalin staged from 1936-38. David talks...

Politics on Trial: Darwin vs God / Darrow vs Bryan – the Scopes ‘Monkey’ Trial

02 Nov 2025

Contributed by Lukas

We return to our series about the most significant trials in history with the trial of the twentieth century: Scopes ‘Monkey’ (1925), which was ...

Live Special: Who Rules the World? Trump, Tech and the Fight for the Future

29 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s episode was recorded in front of a live audience at the Cheltenham Literature Festival: David talks to Bruno Maçães and Sarah Wynn-Willi...

Fixing Democracy Q&A w/David Klemperer: Oligarchy, Ageing Populations and How to Make Things Worse

26 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In today’s episode the two Davids try to answer some of the hundreds of questions, comments and suggestions we have had in response to this series, ...

Fixing Democracy: Confronting the Strongmen

22 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

For the final episode in this series David talks to historian Ayse Zarakol about the prospects for democracy in the age of strongman politics, from Tr...

Fixing Democracy: TikTok, Disinformation and Distraction

19 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In our penultimate episode in this series David talks to writer Sam Freedman about whether democracy can cope with the demands of the social media age...

Live Special: Prime Minister Farage?

15 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In this special live episode recorded in front of pupils from Hill House and Hayfield schools in Doncaster, David talks to political scientist Rob For...

Fixing Democracy: Better Rhetoric

12 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

David talks to political theorist Alan Finlayson about what’s gone wrong with political speech and how it can be improved. Why do so many contempora...

Fixing Democracy: Compulsory Voting

08 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In today’s episode David talks to political historian David Klemperer about whether voting should be required by law and what might change if non-pa...

Fixing Democracy: What’s Wrong with Referendums?

05 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In today’s episode David talks to Alan Renwick from UCL’s Constitution Unit about the pros and cons of referendums. When does a democratic questio...

Now & Then with Robert Saunders: From Kinnock to Corbyn to Starmer

01 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The second part of David’s conversation with Robert Saunders marking the 40th anniversary of Neil Kinnock’s party conference speech attacking the...

Now & Then with Robert Saunders: Neil Kinnock vs Militant

28 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s episode in our occasional series with Robert Saunders to mark momentous events in British political history explores the lasting consequence...

Fixing Democracy: How to Stop Election Rigging

24 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In today’s episode on how to fix democracy David talks to political scientist Nic Cheeseman about how to stop governments rigging elections around t...

Fixing Democracy: Citizens’ Assemblies

21 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

David talks to Claudia Chwalisz, founder and CEO of Democracy Next, about how citizens’ assemblies could help fix what’s wrong with democracy. Whe...

Fixing Democracy: Parliamentary Reform

17 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In today’s episode David talks to Hannah White, Director of the Institute for Government, about legislatures in general and the British parliament i...

Fixing Democracy: Electoral Reform

14 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

For the first episode in a new series about the ideas that could help democracy work better David talks to David Klemperer of the Constitution Society...

Indignity w/Lea Ypi

10 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

David talks to Lea Ypi about her new book Indignity: A Life Reimagined, which tells the story of her grandmother’s extraordinary life and in doing ...

Dignity and Indignity w/Lea Ypi

07 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s episode is the first in a three-part conversation with philosopher and writer Lea Ypi about the idea of dignity and its role in the history ...

PPF+: More of What You’ve Been Missing!

03 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In today’s episode some more highlights from the PPF+ archive of 35 bonus episodes and counting: here are a few more excerpts we think you might enj...

Politics on Trial: Hitler vs Weimar

31 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s epic political trial is the one that should have been the end of Adolf Hitler but ended up being the making of him: his treason trial in 192...

Politics on Trial: Easter Rising 1916 w/Fintan O’Toole

28 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today it’s the first of two episodes with journalist and historian Fintan O’Toole about the trials that followed the 1916 Easter Rising in Ireland...

PPF+: A Taste of What You've Been Missing!

24 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s episode is something a little bit different – it is nearly 18 months since we started PPF+ and there are now 34 bonus episodes waiting for...

Politics on Trial 100th Anniversary Special: Franz Kafka’s The Trial

21 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s episode in Politics on Trial is about the most famous trial in literature and one that never actually takes place. David talks to writer and...

Politics on Trial: Dreyfus vs the Conspiracy Theory

17 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today in Politics on Trial David tells the tale of the Dreyfus Affair that split France down the middle at the turn of the last century and revealed t...

Politics on Trial: Oscar Wilde vs the Philistines

14 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s episode in Politics on Trial is about three trials that took place over two months in the late spring of 1895 that brought about the destruc...

Now & Then with Robert Saunders: Whatever Happened to Unemployment?

10 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s episode is the first in a new strand with the historian Robert Saunders looking at significant political anniversaries and their meaning for...

Politics on Trial: Charles Parnell vs the English

07 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

For today’s episode in Politics on Trial it’s two trials for the price of one, which between them changed the course of British and Irish history....

Politics on Trial: The Haymarket Eight vs the Police

03 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s political trial is one of the most notorious in American history: eight men charged with and convicted of murder in 1886 for a terrorist out...

Politics on Trial: John Brown vs Slavery

31 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s great political trial concerns the prosecution and execution of John Brown in 1859 for his raid on Harper’s Ferry in the attempt to free A...

Politics on Trial: Aaron Burr vs the Constitution

27 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

For today’s epic political trial, David talks to American historian and PPF regular Gary Gerstle about the treason trial of Aaron Burr in 1807. Why ...

Politics on Trial: Louis XVI vs the People

24 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s epoch-making political trial concerns the interrogation, conviction and execution of Louis XVI at the heart of the French Revolution in 1792...

Politics on Trial: Warren Hastings vs the British Empire

20 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

To start our new instalment of episodes about the most consequential political trials in history David explores the trial of the eighteenth century:...

The History of Bad Ideas: Identity

17 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

For the final episode in our current series on the history of bad ideas, David talks to philosopher Alexander Douglas about the damage that can be don...

The History of Bad Ideas: Behaviourism

13 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In today’s episode of the history of bad ideas, David talks to political philosopher Alan Finlayson about behaviourism, a theory of psychology that ...

The History of Bad Ideas: Polycrisis

10 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s bad idea is one with a short history but a big reach: the term polycrisis only came into being at the end of the last century but now it see...

The History of Bad Ideas: Value-Free Tech

06 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

For today’s episode in the history of bad ideas David talks to philosopher Shannon Vallor about the myth that technology can be value free. It’s e...

The History of Bad Ideas: Monopoly

03 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

For today’s episode in the history of bad ideas David talks to economic historian Marc Palen about monopoly, an idea that has always had its defende...

The History of Bad Ideas: Meritocracy

29 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s bad idea is one that started out as satire and ended as a political slogan. David talks to historian of ideas Ben Jackson about meritocracy ...

The History of Bad Ideas: Charisma

26 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

For today’s episode in the history of bad ideas David talks to cultural historian Tom Wright about charisma, a term that often feels essential for u...

The History of Bad Ideas: The Decisive Battle

22 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In today’s episode about the power of bad ideas, David talks to historian and podcaster Dan Snow about the myth that wars are settled on the battlef...

The History of Bad Ideas: Genius

19 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s bad idea is ‘genius’, the label that has enabled all sorts of terrible behaviour through the ages. Writer and broadcaster Helen Lewis ex...

The History of Bad Ideas: Austerity

15 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

For the first episode in our new series about how bad ideas take hold, David talks to economist Mark Blyth about austerity, the cost-cutting idea that...

Politics on Trial: Charles I vs Parliament

12 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s political trial is perhaps the most consequential in English history: the trial and execution of King Charles I for treason in January 1649....

Politics on Trial: Galileo vs the Inquisition

08 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s trial is one of the most notorious in history but also one of the most misremembered. Galileo’s epic confrontation with the Catholic Churc...

50th Anniversary Special: The 1975 European Referendum w/Robert Saunders

05 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s episode is about a pivotal event in British history that took place exactly 50 years ago: the 1975 referendum on Britain’s membership of t...

Politics on Trial: Mary Queen of Scots vs the Secret State

01 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In today’s episode an extraordinary political trial that culminated in the execution of one queen at the behest of another: Mary Queen of Scots, con...

Politics on Trial: Thomas More vs the King

29 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In today’s episode another trial that forms the basis for great drama: the case of Thomas More, tried and executed in 1535, events dramatised by Rob...

Politics on Trial: Joan of Arc vs the Church

25 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s political trial took place in 1431 though it was still being re-litigated right through to the twentieth century: the case of Joan of Arc, c...