Past Present Future

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...

Politics on Trial: Socrates vs Democracy

22 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The first political trial in our new series is the one that set the template for all the others: the trial of Socrates in Athens in 399 BCE, which end...

Politics on Trial: A History of Lawfare

18 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

To introduce our new series about historic political trials – from Socrates to Marine Le Pen – David explores what makes political confrontations ...

Ideas of Globalisation: What’s Gone Wrong? w/Dani Rodrik

15 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

For the final episode in this series David talks to the leading economist Dani Rodrik about the case he made in the early 2000s that globalisation was...

Ideas of Globalisation: The Crisis of the 1970s (and Trump!)

11 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

David talks to historian Meg Jacobs about how the 1970s changed everything for America’s understanding of its place in the global economy. How did f...

Ideas of Globalisation: Central Banks vs the People (and Trump!)

08 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today David talks to political and economic theorist Leah Downey about the role that central banks in general – and the Federal Reserve in particula...

Ideas of Globalisation: Hoover and Smoot-Hawley (and Trump!)

04 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

David talks to historian Gary Gerstle about the last time the Republican party got caught up in a tariffs disaster and how it changed American politic...

Ideas of Globalisation: Chamberlain and the Tariff Wars (and Trump!)

01 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today we explore the explosive fight over tariffs that took place in Britain in the first decade of the twentieth century. David talks to historian Ro...

Ideas of Globalisation: Trade, Race and Empire (and Trump!)

27 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

We start a new mini-series on the history of ideas of globalisation by exploring how arguments from 150 years ago foreshadow what’s happening with T...

The History of Revolutionary Ideas: Lenin and Trotsky

24 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

To conclude this part of our revolutionary ideas series, we explore the overlapping lives and thinking of two emblematic twentieth-century revolutiona...

PPF Live Special: Churchill – The Politician With Nine Lives w/Robert Saunders

20 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s episode is the second of our two recent live recordings of PPF, this one in front of an audience at the Bath Curious Minds Festival. David t...

The History of Revolutionary Ideas: The Rite of Spring w/Dominic Dromgoole

17 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Our third Parisian revolution is another explosive night in the theatre, this time in the world of dance. David talks to Dominic Dromgoole about Strav...

The History of Revolutionary Ideas: Ubu Roi w/Dominic Dromgoole

15 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s Parisian revolution is a theatrical performance that produced a riot. David talks to theatre director Dominic Dromgoole about Alfred Jarry’...

The History of Revolutionary Ideas: Salon Des Refusés w/Dominic Dromgoole

13 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s episode is the first of three this week with the theatre director and writer Dominic Dromgoole, exploring revolutionary events in the world ...

The History of Revolutionary Ideas: Marx and the Paris Commune

10 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today the first of four episodes about Parisian revolutions. We start with the definitive nineteenth-century revolutionary and his definitive revoluti...

The History of Revolutionary Ideas: Free Speech

06 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s revolutionary idea is one with a long history, not all of it revolutionary: David talks to the historian Fara Dabhoiwala about the idea of f...

PPF Live Film Special: Network w/Helen Lewis

03 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

We take a brief break from revolutionary ideas for a special live episode of PPF recorded in front of an audience at the Regent Street Cinema in Londo...

The History of Revolutionary Ideas: Darwin w/Adam Rutherford

30 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

David talks to geneticist and science writer Adam Rutherford about the book that fundamentally altered our understanding of just about everything: Dar...

The History of Revolutionary Ideas: The Taiping Revolution

27 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s revolutionary ideas come from China: David talks to historian Julia Lovell about the Taiping Revolution, another massive mid-19th-century up...

The History of Revolutionary Ideas: 1848: The Radical Revolution w/Chris Clark

23 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In our second of three episodes on the revolutions that swept through Europe in 1848 David and Chris Clark explore the forces demanding radical change...

The History of Revolutionary Ideas: 1848: The Liberal Revolution w/Chris Clark

20 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In the first of three episodes about the revolutions that swept through Europe in 1848 David is joined by historian Chris Clark to explore the ideas b...

The History of Revolutionary Ideas: The Bayesian Revolution w/David Spiegelhalter

16 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s revolutionary idea is something a bit different: David talks to statistician David Spiegelhalter about how an eighteenth-century theory of p...

The History of Revolutionary Ideas: Slave Uprising: The Haitian Revolution

13 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s episode is about a very different revolution from any we’ve discussed so far: David talks to historian Hank Gonzalez about the Haitian Rev...

The History of Revolutionary Ideas: French Revolution 3: Paine

09 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

For our third episode on the ideas behind the French Revolution, David talks to Richard Whatmore about the ubiquitous Thomas Paine, the Englishman who...

The History of Revolutionary Ideas: French Revolution 2: Robespierre

06 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

For our second episode on the people and ideas behind the French Revolution David talks to historian and biographer Ruth Scurr about the man who came ...

The History of Revolutionary Ideas: French Revolution 1: Sieyès

02 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In the first of three episodes about the people and ideas behind the French Revolution, David talks to Lucia Rubinelli about the man who helped kickst...

The History of Revolutionary Ideas: American Revolution 2: The Constitution

27 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In the second of our two episodes about the American Revolution David talks to historian Eric Nelson about the ideas that shaped the US Constitution. ...

The History of Revolutionary Ideas: American Revolution 1: The Declaration of Independence

23 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today it’s the first of two episodes about one of the most significant revolutions of all: the American Revolution. David talks to historian Eric Ne...

The History of Revolutionary Ideas: The Industrial Revolution

20 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s episode is about a revolution that started 250 years ago and is still going on (in the form of the digital revolution): the Industrial Revol...

The History of Revolutionary Ideas: English Revolution 2: 1688

16 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In the second of our episodes with historian Clare Jackson on the English revolutions of the 17th century we discuss the one that usually gets called...

The History of Revolutionary Ideas: English Revolution 1: Civil War

13 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s episode in our history of revolutionary ideas is about the event that is sometimes – but not always – called the English Revolution: the...

The History of Revolutionary Ideas: The Scientific Revolution

09 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s episode is about a revolution that took centuries to happen if it ever really happened at all: The Scientific Revolution. David talks to his...

The History of Revolutionary Ideas: The Reformation (part 1): Luther

06 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s revolutionary thinker is Martin Luther, the man who upended the religious, political and intellectual life of Europe, maybe without entirely...

The History of Revolutionary Ideas: Humanism

02 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s episode in our history of revolutionary ideas is about a medieval movement that used the ancient past to rethink and reimagine the present a...

The History of Revolutionary Ideas: Magna Carta

30 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s episode in our history of revolutionary ideas is about a medieval document that is sometimes thought to contain a ground-breaking promise of...

The History of Revolutionary Ideas: Islam

26 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s episode in our history of revolutionary ideas explores the world-altering impact of Islam from the seventh century onwards. David talks to ...

The History of Revolutionary Ideas: Christianity w/Tom Holland

23 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s episode in our series on revolutionary ideas is a conversation covering two millennia with the historian Tom Holland exploring the never-end...

The History of Revolutionary Ideas: Socrates w/Agnes Callard

19 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

To begin our history of revolutionary ideas in earnest, David talks to the philosopher Agnes Callard about Socrates, the philosopher who changed – a...

The History of Revolutionary Ideas: What Makes a Revolutionary Idea?

16 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

To kick off our new series on revolutionary ideas past, present and future David talks to two regular PPF contributors – the philosopher Lea Ypi and...

The Great Political Films: The Zone of Interest

12 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The final episode in our great political films series explores Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest (2023), his haunting take on the home life of ...

The Great Political Films: Zero Dark Thirty

09 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The penultimate episode in our great political films series explores Kathryn Bigelow’s Zero Dark Thirty (2012), her controversial take on the War on...

The Great Political Films: The Social Network

05 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The second David Fincher film in our series (after Fight Club) is The Social Network (2010), the Aaron Sorkin-scripted take on how Mark Zuckerberg cre...

The Great Political Films: There Will Be Blood

02 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Our great political films series reaches the twenty-first century with Paul Thomas Anderson’s unforgettable There Will Be Blood (2007), starring Dan...

The Great Political Films: Fight Club w/ Helen Lewis

29 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

David talks to writer and journalist Helen Lewis about David Fincher’s Fight Club (1999), the film that launched a thousand memes. Does this tale of...

The Great Political Films: Do The Right Thing

26 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Our political films season has reached the late 1980s with Do The Right Thing (1989), Spike Lee’s searing take on racial tension on a Brooklyn block...

The Great Political Films: Kagemusha

22 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s great political film is Akira Kurosawa’s epic of war and deception Kagemusha (1980). Set in late sixteenth-century Japan it tells the stor...

The Great Political Films: Jeanne Dielman

19 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s great political film is Chantal Akerman’s Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (1975), voted the greatest film of all time ...

The Great Political Films: The Candidate w/Chris Smith

15 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s episode is a conversation between David and the former politician Chris Smith (long-time MP and Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sp...

The Great Political Films: Z

12 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

We resume our series on the great political films with Costa-Gavras’s Z (1969), the quintessential late 60s movie about assassination, conspiracy,...

The History of Bad Ideas: Televised Leadership Debates

08 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

To finish this series of bad ideas, David tries to persuade Gary Gerstle of the futility of televised leadership debates. From Nixon vs Kennedy to Ha...

The History of Bad Ideas: Party Members Choosing Leaders

05 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For our penultimate bad idea in this series, David talks to Robert Saunders about what’s gone wrong with British politics since party members got to...

The History of Bad Ideas: Steady State Theory

01 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s bad idea is a theory of the universe: David talks to astrophysicist Chris Lintott about Steady State Theory, the rival cosmological model to...

The History of Bad Ideas: The End of History

28 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s bad idea concerns history itself: David talks to world historian Ayse Zarakol about the temptations and the pitfalls of the idea of The End ...

The History of Bad Ideas: Modernisation!

24 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For today’s bad idea David talks to political philosopher Alan Finlayson about what goes wrong when politicians get their hands on the concept of mo...

The History of Bad Ideas: The Marketplace of Ideas

21 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s bad idea is about how ideas get adopted, argued over and rejected: David talks to political philosopher Alan Finlayson about what’s wrong ...

The History of Bad Ideas: Nobel Prizes

17 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For our latest bad idea with an interesting history David talks to the geneticist and science writer Adam Rutherford about what’s wrong with Nobel P...

The History of Bad Ideas: The Silent Majority

14 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

To kick off our new series on the history of bad ideas David talks to historian Sophie Scott-Brown about the idea of ‘the silent majority’, belove...

American Elections: 2024: The Meaning of Trump’s Triumph

09 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For the final (extended) episode in our American Elections series David talks to Gary Gerstle about the historical significance of Donald Trump’s de...

The Great Political Films: The Battle of Algiers

07 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For the last episode in this season of great political films David explores Gillo Pontecorvo’s The Battle of Algiers (1966), which changed the fac...

The Great Political Films: Dr Strangelove & Fail Safe w/ Jill Lepore

03 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This episode is about two great films on the same dark theme: David talks to American historian Jill Lepore about Stanley Kubrick’s Dr Strangelove a...

The Great Political Films: The Leopard w/ Lucia Rubinelli

31 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For today’s great political film David discusses Luchino Visconti’s The Leopard (1963) with the Italian historian of ideas Lucia Rubinelli. How ...

The Great Political Films: The Manchurian Candidate

27 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s great political film is John Frankenheimer’s masterpiece of Cold War paranoia The Manchurian Candidate (1962), which came out the week o...

The Great Political Films: The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp

24 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In today’s episode David discusses Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943), a great patriotic anti-war ...

The Great Political Films: Citizen Kane

20 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Orson Welles’s Citizen Kane (1941) is many people’s favourite film of all time, including Donald Trump’s. Why does Trump love it so? What does...

The Great Political Films: Mr Smith Goes to Washington

17 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s great political film is Frank Capra’s Mr Smith Goes to Washington (1939), a much-loved tale of the little guy taking on the corrupt establ...

The Great Political Films: La Grande Illusion

13 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For the first episode in our new series David explores Jean Renoir’s La Grande Illusion (1937), a great anti-war film that is also a melancholy me...

Michael Lewis on Sam Bankman-Fried and Effective Altruism

10 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

David talks to author Michael Lewis about SBF and EA: about the man he got to know before, during and after his spectacular fall and about the philoso...

American Elections: 2024: Is Anyone Winning?

06 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

David checks in with Gary Gerstle one more time before November to explore where things now stand with the US presidential election. In a conversatio...

Thinking About Thinking Machines: Monk & Robot

03 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For episode four of our series on the history of thinking about thinking machines, David and Shannon discuss a very different sci-fi sensibility: Beck...

Thinking About Thinking Machines: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?

29 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s episode in our series on the history of thinking about thinking machines explores the novel that inspired Blade Runner: Philip K. Dick’s ...

Thinking About Thinking Machines: Isaac Asimov’s ‘Franchise’

26 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In today’s episode in our series on the history of thinking about thinking machines, David and Shannon discuss Isaac Asimov’s 1955 short story ‘...

Thinking About Thinking Machines: Metropolis

22 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For the first episode in our new series on the history of thinking about thinking machines, David talks to philosopher Shannon Vallor about Fritz Lang...

What if… Scotland Had Voted for Independence?

19 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For our last episode in this series of historical counterfactuals, David talks to the historian Ben Jackson about what might have happened if the 2014...

What if… The Berlin Wall Hadn’t Fallen?

15 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Our counterfactuals series moves forward to 1989: David talks to Lea Ypi about what might have happened if the Berlin Wall hadn’t fallen when it did...

What if… The 1919 Paris Peace Conference Had Actually Kept the Peace?

12 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

David talks to historian Margaret MacMillan, author of the prize-winning Peacemakers, about whether the 1919 Paris Peace Conference deserves its repu...

What If… The Russian Revolution Hadn’t Been Bolshevik?

08 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s episode is another big early twentieth-century counterfactual: David talks to the historian of Russia Edward Acton about how the Russian Rev...

What If… Franz Ferdinand Had Survived Sarajevo?

05 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

We return to our series on historical counterfactuals with the big one: how might WWI have been avoided? David talks to Chris Clark, author of The S...

Fifteen Fictions for Summer re-release: Hamilton

01 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Our Great Political Fictions re-release concludes with a musical: Lin-Manuel Miranda’s wildly popular and increasingly controversial Hamilton (201...

Fifteen Fictions for Summer re-release: American Wife

31 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The penultimate episode in our Great Political Fictions re-release is about Curtis Sittenfeld’s American Wife (2008), which re-imagines the life o...

Fifteen Fictions for Summer re-release: The Line of Beauty

30 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s Great Political Fiction is Alan Hollinghurst’s The Line of Beauty (2004), which is set between Thatcher’s two dominant general electio...

Fifteen Fictions for Summer re-release: The Handmaid’s Tale

29 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For the twelfth episode in our Great Political Fictions re-release, David discusses Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale (1985), her unforgett...

Fifteen Fictions for Summer re-release: Midnight’s Children

28 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In today’s Great Political Fiction David explores Salman Rushdie’s 1981 masterpiece Midnight’s Children, the great novel about the life and deat...

Fifteen Fictions for Summer re-release: Atlas Shrugged

27 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In today’s episode David discusses Ayn Rand’s insanely long and insanely influential Atlas Shrugged (1957), the bible of free-market entreprene...

Fifteen Fictions for Summer re-release: Mother Courage & Her Children

26 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Our ninth Great Political Fiction is Bertolt Brecht’s classic anti-war play, written in 1939 at the start of one terrible European war but set in th...

Fifteen Fictions for Summer re-release: The Time Machine

25 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Our eighth Great Political Fiction is H. G. Wells’ The Time Machine (1895) which isn’t just a book about time travel. It’s also full of late-19...

Fifteen Fictions for Summer re-release: Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde

24 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Today’s Great Political Fiction is Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde (1886) - a story that it’s easy to know without really knowing it at all. David explore...

Fifteen Fictions for Summer re-release: Phineas Redux

23 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The sixth Great Political Fiction in our summer re-release is Anthony Trollope’s Phineas Redux (1874), his lightly and luridly fictionalised account...