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When fiction comes to the historian's rescue

Lisa Jardine on how fiction can be more useful than fact in helping us understand the past

• 10 mins

The Horror of War

Lisa Jardine says commemorating a war should not mean losing sight of its horror.

• 10 mins

Red Dress Sense

Red may be now fashionable, but in the past it was powerful, reflects Lisa Jardine.

• 10 mins

Keeping Time

Lisa Jardine reflects on the history of timepieces and the power of clocks and watches.

• 10 mins

Short and Successful

Adam Gopnik thinks there is a simple reason why short men enjoy stable marriages.

• 10 mins

Dying with Dignity

Adam Gopnick thinks we fail all too often to let people die with dignity.

• 10 mins

The Football Fallacy

Adam Gopnik explains why the English are better at watching football than at playing it.

• 10 mins

A Lesson from Love Locks

Adam Gopnik draws a lesson on the nature of love from the eyesore of love locks in Paris.

• 10 mins

Cures for Anxiety

Adam Gopnik identifies four different types of anxiety that afflict modern people.

• 10 mins

Capitalism and the Myth of Social Evolution

John Gray reflects on why the advance of capitalism is not inevitable.

• 10 mins

Soylent and the Charm of the Fast Lane

John Gray explores why human beings crave busy lives.

• 10 mins

Dostoevsky and Dangerous Ideas

John Gray points to lessons from the novels of Dostoevsky about the danger of ideas.

• 10 mins

Thinking the Unthinkable

John Gray argues that 'thinking the unthinkable' means exaggerating fashionable beliefs.

• 10 mins

Faking It

Roger Scruton muses on the difference between genuine art and that based on fake emotion.

• 10 mins

Kitsch

Why the fear of producing kitsch art has led to a new kind of pre-emptive kitsch.

• 10 mins

Art: The Real Thing

What constitutes real art, as opposed to kitsch or that based on fake emotions and cliche?

• 10 mins

Monarch's Message

David Cannadine reflects on the history of the Queen's Christmas message.

• 10 mins

The Pursuit of Happiness

AL Kennedy reflects on what it means to pursue happiness.

• 10 mins

Charlie Hebdo

Adam Gopnick reflects on the Charlie Hebdo massacre.

• 10 mins

Language and Listening

AL Kennedy reflects on the importance of learning languages and listening to one another.

• 10 mins

The Power of Art

AL Kennedy reflects on the power of art to sustain the human spirit.

• 10 mins

Losing Touch

Will Self laments diminishing personal contact as a result of the rise of technology.

• 10 mins

Having Children

Will Self reflects on the growing divide between people with and without children.

• 10 mins

The Purpose of Satire

Will Self finds himself driven to reconsider the nature and purpose of satire.

• 10 mins

The Power of Fiction

Will Self reflects on the power of our relationship with fictional characters.

• 10 mins

Post-Image

A weekly reflection on a topical issue.

• 10 mins

The Nature of Time

Will Self reflects on the unsettling nature of time.

• 10 mins

Cognitive Decline

Tom Shakespeare says wisdom in middle age is some compensation for cognitive decline.

• 10 mins

Trial by Select Committee

Tom Shakespeare thinks that reformed select committees have revitalised Parliament.

• 10 mins

The Price of Independence

Tom Shakespeare says that disabled people's right to independent living is under threat.

• 10 mins