John Berger transformed the way generations thought about art, politics and the act of looking. Best known for Ways of Seeing, his work ranged across migration, capitalism, war and mortality, always asking how culture can help us understand the world around us.
In this episode, writer and academic Shahidha Bari speaks with Tom Overton about his new book, Jo ... Show More
Aug 23
Is Tech Making Our Kids Less Capable? With Dr Jared Cooney Horvath
Schools were promised that laptops, educational apps and artificial intelligence would make learning more personalised, engaging and effective. Cognitive neuroscientist and former teacher Dr Jared Cooney Horvath argues that the opposite may be true. In his new book, The Digital D ... Show More
33m 14s
Aug 22
Is Ukraine’s Culture Worth Fighting For? With Charlotte Higgins
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has placed not only lives and cities under attack, but also the country’s language, history and culture. Museums have been looted, cultural sites destroyed and a generation of writers, artists and performers drawn into the war. Yet amid thi ... Show More
37m 37s
Aug 20
How George Michael Changed Music Forever, with Sathnam Sanghera (Part Two)
George Michael wrote Careless Whisper, one of the biggest pop songs of our age, in an hour in his childhood bedroom. Alongside his childhood best friend Andrew Ridgeley he founded Wham!, a revolutionary pop group which became one of the defining bands of the 1980s, selling over 3 ... Show More
42m 18s
Oct 2025
On Politics: The Death of the Conservative Party?
In its nearly two hundred years of existence the Conservative Party has survived through a combination of protean adaptability and ruthlessness, not least in its willingness to change leaders. Yet under its present leader, Kemi Badenoch, the party often described (by itself, at l ... Show More
55m 22s
May 2024
74. Kwasi Kwarteng: Liz Truss, becoming Chancellor, and Britain on the brink (Part 2)
Why did the Tory Party choose to make Liz Truss and Boris Johnson prime minister? How does it feel to be the second shortest-serving chancellor in post-war history? What was the true thinking behind the disastrous Truss-Kwarteng mini-budget?
On today's episode of Leading, Rory ... Show More
54m 38s