logo
episode-header-image
Mar 2024
14m 14s

Arteries of tomorrow

Bbc Radio 4
About this episode

The A13 runs from the City of London past Tilbury Docks and the site of the Dagenham Ford factory to Benfleet and the Wat Tyler Country Park. As he travels along it, talking to residents about their ideas of community and change, New Generation Thinker Dan Taylor reflects on the history of the area and different versions of hopes for the future.

Dr Dan Taylor lectures in social and political thought at the Open University and is a New Generation Thinker on the scheme run by the BBC and the AHRC to share insights from academic research on radio. You can hear him in Free Thinking discussions about Essex, and discussing medieval bestiaries in Beast and Animals. He is also the author of a book Island Story: Journeys Through Unfamiliar Britain.

Producer: Torquil MacLeod

Up next
Jul 4
Censorship, editing and self-censorship
Shahidha Bari looks at censorship, editing and self-censorship with guests including historian of China, Rana Mitter, Jemimah Steinfeld of Index on Censorship and Nigel Warburton, host of the Philosophy Bites podcast. Amelia Fairney discusses her research on sensitivity readers a ... Show More
57m 7s
Jun 27
Christian faith, politics and culture
Anne McElvoy and guests explore the intersections between Christian faith and political decision-making and look at some recent dramas which explore the impact of belief.Chine McDonald is director of the Christian Think Tank Theos, Mark Lawson is a writer, broadcaster and theatre ... Show More
56m 21s
Jun 20
Language
Journalists Peter Hitchens and Oliver Kamm, radio presenter and comedian Ellis James, languages expert Ross Perlin, Diana Sutton director of The Bell Foundation and podcaster and academic Reetika Revathy Subramanian join Matthew Sweet for a conversation about how language unites ... Show More
56m 44s
Recommended Episodes
Oct 2024
Sea Travelling
Laurie Taylor talks to Helen Sampson, Professor in the School of Social Sciences at Cardiff University, about her voyage into the lives and work of seafarers. 25 years of fieldwork on merchant cargo ships has given her an unusual insight into the changing realities of life onboar ... Show More
28m 22s
Aug 2024
George Musgrave, "The England No One Cares About: Lyrics from Suburbia" (Goldsmiths Press, 2023)
An exploration of the much-derided English suburbs through rap music.There are many different Englands. From the much-romanticized rolling countryside, to the cosmopolitanism of the inner cities (embraced by some as progressive, multicultural enlightenment and derided by others a ... Show More
1h 30m
Sep 2024
London Feeds Itself: Jonathan Nunn & Owen Hatherley
Born in the pandemic lockdown of 2020, when Britain’s restaurants had closed their doors, Jonathan Nunn founded the online newsletter Vittles, which rapidly established itself as the premier platform for exploring food cultures in Britain and around the world. Out of Vittles was ... Show More
1h 7m
Jul 2020
Emily Wallace, "Road Sides: An Illustrated Companion to Dining and Driving in the American South" (U Texas Press, 2019)
In this this interview, Carrie Tippen talks with Emily Wallace, author and illustrator of the new book Road Sides: An Illustrated Companion to Dining and Driving in the American South (University of Texas Press, 2019).Road Sides pays homage to popular travel guides with its short ... Show More
50m 1s
Dec 2024
Edinburgh
How was Edinburgh transformed from an ancient defensive site on top of a volcanic crag into a major centre of power, faith, commerce, and learning? In this second of our two festive bonus episodes, travel writer and history buff Paul Bloomfield is joined by historian Rosemary Gor ... Show More
41m 47s
Jan 2025
Caryl Phillips’s snapshot of the Windrush Generation
 Booker Prize shortlisted writer Caryl Phillips is one of contemporary literature’s master stylists. His latest novel, ‘Another Man in the Street’, chronicles a West Indian man’s journey to England as part of the Windrush Generation and his struggles therein. As we follow this en ... Show More
32m 27s
Oct 2024
050 John Petersen
In this episode of Think Tank, Robert engages in a captivating conversation with John Petersen, a renowned futurist, strategist, and expert on large-scale change. John discusses his career, which includes leading the Arlington Institute and advising various government agencies, i ... Show More
1h 22m
Jul 2024
James Graham: The playwright with the Midas touch
James Graham is an award-winning playwright and screenwriter for TV and film. His plays include Ink, This House and Dear England, about the struggles and successes of England’s former football manager Gareth Southgate. His acclaimed TV dramas include Quiz and Sherwood, set in the ... Show More
1h 8m
Nov 2024
18. Malcolm Gladwell
Kirsty Young asks the writer and podcaster Malcolm Gladwell what advice he would give his younger self.Gladwell's writing, in books such as The Tipping Point and Outliers, successfully distil complex ideas for a mass audience, and he has worked as a staff writer for The New Yorke ... Show More
42m 51s