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BBC Radio 4

Thinking Allowed

After the Second World War, a vast experiment took place in which adventure playgrounds transformed bombsites and waste ground in the UK, creating opportunities for children, beyond the sanitised safety of more conventional play spaces with swings and see saws. Laurie Taylor talks to Ben Highmore, Professor of Cultural Studies at the University of Sussex about the range of people whose celebration of children's imaginative capacities re-invented the notion of play, from Northern Europe to North America. Designers, social reformers, and even anarchists, saw these sites of fun as the foundation for the creation of citizens and agents of social change. 

What remains of those post war playgrounds, in the here and now, and what can the astonishing ambition of those spaces tell us about the power of play in an age of risk aversion?

Producer: Jayne Egerton

Playgrounds

Laurie Taylor explores the fascination for true crime stories. He's joined by Jennifer Fleetwood, Senior Lecturer in Criminology at City, University of London, whose latest work considers the remarkable rise in the number of people who speak publicly about their experience of crime. Personal accounts used to be confined to the police station and the courtroom, but today bookshops heave with autobiographies by prisoners, criminals, police and barristers while streaming platforms host hours of interviews so how easy is it for the 'truth' to come out?

Louise Wattis, Assistant Professor in the Department: Social Sciences ·at Northumbria University, Newcastle looks at the skyrocketing interest in true crime as a form of popular entertainment. What do we know about the appeal of 'Hardman' biographies of violent criminals, a hugely popular subgenre, particularly for male readers?

Producer: Jayne Egerton

Crime Stories

When, where, and who gets to touch and be touched, and who decides? How does touch bring us closer together or push us apart? These are urgent contemporary questions, but they have their origins in late nineteenth and early twentieth-century Britain. Laurie Taylor talks to Simeon Koole, Senior Lecturer in Liberal Arts and History at the University of Bristol about his new study of the way in which the crowded city compelled new discussions about touch, as people crammed into subway cars, skirted criminals in London's dense fogs and visited tea shops, all the while negotiating the boundaries of personal space. How did these historical encounters shape and transform our understanding of physical contact into the present day? 

Also, digital touch. Carey Jewitt Professor of Technology at the Institute of Education, London, explores the way technology is transforming our experience of touch. Touch matters. It is fundamental to how we know ourselves and each other, and it is central to how we communicate. So how will the the digital touch embedded in many technologies, from wearable devices and gaming hardware to tactile robots and future technologies, change our sense of connection with each other. What would it be like if we could hug or touch digitally across distance? How might we establish trust or protect our privacy and safety? How might radically different forms of touch impact our relationships and the future?

Producer: Jayne Egerton

Touch

Wealth: Laurie Taylor talks to Brooke Harrington, Professor of Economic Sociology at Dartmouth College, New Hampshire, about the world of offshore finance, how it works and its impact, globally. As part of her research, she earned her own wealth management certificate and spent nearly eight years interviewing other professionals in the field, as well as visiting the 18 most popular tax havens in the world—from Mauritius, off the southeast coast of Africa, to the Cook Islands in the middle of the South Pacific - observing and interviewing the experts who keep the secrets and protect the fortunes of the global ultra-rich. Does offshore finance have costs for all of us at a time when democracies seem under threat and deepening inequalities are destabilising the world? Also, Guido Alfani, Professor of Economic History at Bocconi University, Milan, explores a 1000-year history of the super-rich in the West from the medieval period to today. He finds that their position within society has long been fragile and precarious. How have the uber rich been viewed by society, over time, and are they ripe for a re-appraisal?

Producer: Jayne Egerton

Wealth

Laurie Taylor talks to Nina Edwards, the author of a new study which unravels the intimate narratives woven into the fabric of our most personal garments. Is there a profound and surprising significance to the garments we wear beneath our outer clothing? Also, Shaun Cole, Associate Professor in Fashion at the University of Southampton, considers the enduring question aimed at men over the choice of boxers or briefs and explores the future direction of men’s undergarments.

Producer: Jayne Egerton

Underwear

Laurie Taylor talks to the writer, Dan Hancox, about the part that crowds play in our lives and how they made the modern world. 
From Notting Hill carnival-goers and football matches to M25 raves and violent riots, what do we know about the madness of the multitude? Also, Lisa Mueller, Associate Professor of Political Science at Macalaster College, Minnesota, asks why protests succeed or fail. Examining data from 97 protests, she finds that more cohesive crowds are key. Drilling down into two British protests, Occupy London and Take Back Parliament, protesters who united around a common goal won more concessions than ones with multiple aims. 

Producer: Jayne Egerton

Crowds

Has French culture become provincial and inward looking? France aspires to be a global cultural power. But a new book - 'The Death of French Culture' - argues that its government creates a walled garden producing cinema and literature for its own market but not for the world. Gone are the days of geniuses like Emile Zola and Francois Truffaut who spoke to millions. Laurie Taylor is joined by the book's author Donald Morrison and by Noelle Lenoir, a former French minister for European affairs. They consider whether protectionism has caused a decline in French creativity and if state subsidies produce mediocre art. Also, the economist Paul Ormerod highlights the power of networks to change behaviour. Could an understanding of how our connections influence our choices help tackle everything from obesity to unemployment?

Producer: Jayne Egerton.

French culture - Network Nudge

When is a crime a 'hate crime', and what does that term actually mean? How has living on what other people throw away become a subject for criminologists? Laurie explores some of the latest ideas on crime as he visits the British Society of Criminology Conference held this year at Leicester University. He hears from the film maker Rex Bloomstein, from Sylvia Lancaster whose daughter Sophie was murdered because of the way she looked, from Jon Garland, Senior Lecturer in Crimilogy, University of Leicester, and also from Jeff Ferrell, the Professor of Criminology from the United States who has been living out of dumpsters, skips, rubbish bins in an attempt to understand an increasingly criminalised and marginalised way of life. 
Producer: Charlie Taylor.

British Society of Criminology Conference at Leicester University

From Hitchcock's 'Rear Window' to Facebook and Twitter, from Soviet Spies to Parisian cafes, eavesdropping is a universal phenomenon. John Locke, who has provided the first serious and systematic study of the behaviour, tells Laurie that it is a practice which extends into the animal kingdom and brings advantages to birds and chimpanzees. An attempt to understand the lives of others can help one live better oneself but despite the fact that it has shaped human history and culture, listening in to what others are saying continues to have a very bad name.
Also on the programme Emmeline Taylor presents her research on CCTV in schools and the impact on privacy. 
Producer: Chris Wilson.

Eavesdropping - CCTV in schools

The United States does not have the highest living standard in the world - The washing machine has changed the world more than the internet - People in poor countries are more entrepreneurial than people in rich countries: Three contentions from the economist Ha-Joon Chang as he joins Laurie Taylor and tries to dispel what he sees as the myths and prejudices of free-market capitalism. He claims that we labour under the misconception that financial markets become more efficient, when the opposite is true and his analysis suggests that by breaking free of its free-market ideology, capitalism can be vastly improved.
Producer: Chris Wilson.

Crowds

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