Start the Week

How did we arrive at an age of global instability, conflict and political distrust, and can democracy renew itself? On Radio 4's weekly discussion programme, Tom Sutcliffe is joined by three guests to examine the pressures facing the international order and the ideas that might help sustain it.
Former Prime Minister Gordon Brown discusses his new book The Future Starts With Us, which argues that the erosion of civic life and the fracturing of the rules-based international system are deeply connected. Drawing on global research and decades of political experience, he makes the case for renewed civic engagement as the foundation for a more equitable and sustainable future.
Political scientist Francis Fukuyama became one of the most influential thinkers of the post-Cold War era after the publication of ‘The End of History and the Last Man’ in 1992. In his new memoir, In the Realm of the Last Man, he reflects on the events and ideas that shaped that argument, his subsequent break with neoconservatism after the Iraq War, and his reassessment of the strengths and vulnerabilities of liberal democracy in today’s multipolar world.
Bronwen Maddox, Director and Chief Executive of Chatham House, brings her perspective on a rapidly changing geopolitical landscape. From the war in Ukraine and European security to debates about democracy, power and America's constitutional future as the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, she assesses the challenges facing the West and the international order.
Producer: Katy Hickman
Assistant Producer: Natalia Fernandez

How has life online reshaped society in real life? On Radio 4's weekly discussion programme, Tom Sutcliffe is joined by 3 guests who are investigating the digital sphere, and in some cases resisting its ubiquity.
The filmmaker Baroness Beeban Kidron exposes how digital platforms exploit and divide in her book, Users: How Big Tech Took Control and How to Fight Back. She argues for more political and civic action to counter their unchecked influence.
The business journalist Katherine Dunn explores how GPS shapes so many aspects of everyday life, from dating and supermarket shopping to global trade and navigation. In Little Blue Dot she also reveals the hidden fragility of this technology.
The Indian novelist Meena Kandasamy talks about Fieldwork as a Sex Object, a fierce exploration of online misogyny, deepfakes and digital mob violence, where the internet’s political and cultural conflicts spill into the real world with devastating consequences.
Producer: Katy Hickman
Start the Week returns after our summer break on Monday 7th September.

What has happened to working-class identity in Britain? On Radio 4's weekly discussion programme, Adam Rutherford explores the political fractures within families and communities.
Nicola Wilding discusses These Wild English: A Family, a Class, a Country on Fire, tracing three generations of her family and the pull of belonging, nationalism and far-right politics amid economic decline.
Natasha Carthew draws on her personal experience of growing up poor in Cornwall in her latest work. Rough Edges brings to light the inequalities shaping coastal communities, where austerity, second homes and seasonal work deepen divisions and marginalisation.
The poet Daljit Nagra reflects on his upbringing in a predominantly white working-class town for his latest collection, Yiewsley, exploring race, migration and the cultural shifts that have reshaped Britain from the post-war years to the present.
Producer: Katy Hickman

How have we made discoveries about the world around us and how has our understanding changed when we got it wrong? Adam Rutherford hosts Radio 4's discussion programme which starts the week, asking about the the nature of scientific discovery, understanding and changing our mind.
Andrea Wulf's latest book is The Traveller: The Revolutionary Life of George Forster and his Search for Humanity. She has reassessed the botanist and ethnologist who accompanied Captain Cook's second voyage, taking him from Antarctica to the tropical islands of the South Pacific. During this time, Forster studied diverse people, culture and nature and returned a confirmed opponent of empire, racism and slavery: he was celebrated in his lifetime, but has since been largely forgotten by history.
The geneticist Kathryn Paige Harden argues that the latest research complicates our ideas about blame, punishment and moral responsibility. In her new book Original Sin: The Genetics of Wrongdoing, the Problem of Blame and the Future of Forgiveness, she looks at the area where human behaviour meets inherited biology. She thinks we must look again at questions of wrong doing and free will, reassessing old ideas of guilt and accountability.
We are all hormonal all of the time, because to be hormonal is to be human says Saira Hameed, a leading endocrinologist. Hormones are the often misunderstood signalling system that makes our bodies function which she explain in her new book, Signals: The Inside Story of Our Hormones, separating medical breakthroughs from the obsessions of wellness influencers.
Producer: Ruth Watts

What are the biggest problems facing the economy - and how might we set about dealing with them - from inequality to inflation, domestic growth to geopolitics? On Radio 4's weekly discussion programme, setting the cultural agenda every Monday, Tom Sutcliffe leads a conversation exploring what the solutions might look like.
Jeremy Hunt’s new book Can We Be Rich Again?: The Surprising Potential of Britain's Economy makes the case for optimism. The former Chancellor of the Exchequer outlines current problems – low growth, high public debt and taxes, stagnant living standards and divided politics, but he argues Britain still has a lot going for it - the tech sector, financial services and respected institutions. He says if the British economy is to grow again, politicians need to get better at delivering their plans.
Mariana Mazzucato believes we need to rethink the way we manage economics with government and business working together to promote human flourishing. For her, the problems are deepening inequality, the climate crisis and declining public trust. She is Professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value at University College, London where she is the Founding Director of the Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose. Her new book The Common Good Economy: A New Compass sets out how the economy could be designed to serve people and the planet better.
And, how has the way that we think and talk about the global economy and national problems changed in recent years? Patrick Foulis is contributing editor at the Financial Times, a visiting scholar at the Hoover Institution and author of a forthcoming book on globalisation.
Producer: Ruth Watts