Episodes

  • Where Are We Going? The Future Of Work

    Where Are We Going? The Future Of Work
    May 13 2026
    David talks to author and journalist Sarah O’Connor, who writes about the changing character of work for the Financial Times, to explore what is happening to the world of jobs and employment in the twenty-first century. What does work mean and why do we do it? What changed when efficiency became the primary measure of human labour? How is the age of AI changing the kind of work we all do? What comes next? Out tomorrow on PPF+: Part 2 of this conversation in which David and Sarah discuss what happens when humans and machines increasingly work together: are they becoming more like us or are we becoming more like them? To get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening sign up to PPF+ now https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus Sarah O’Connor’s new book is We Are Not Machines: The Fight for the Future of Work – it will be out in June and is available for pre-order now https://bit.ly/3R3nIyz You can find out everything you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus merch, events and full lists of all episodes including PPF+ bonus episodes on our website https://www.ppfideas.com Next Time: The Plight of Keir Starmer in Historical Perspective Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    1 hr and 2 mins
  • Live Film Special: The Third Man w/Misha Glenny

    Live Film Special: The Third Man w/Misha Glenny
    May 10 2026
    Today’s episode was recorded in front of a live audience at the Regent Street Cinema in London: David talks to the writer and broadcaster Misha Glenny about Carol Reed’s 1949 masterpiece The Third Man, written by Graham Greene and featuring a notorious film-stealing performance from Orson Welles. It’s a film about friendship and betrayal, double-crosses and double lives, divided loyalties and dubious moralities. It is also all about Vienna, a city with a double life of its own. Everyone involved in this film had something to hide: the question is, what? Join us on Wednesday 20th May at the Regent Street Cinema in London for the next film in our spring and summer season: a screening of George Clooney’s Good Night, and Good Luck followed by a live podcast recording with David and writer and broadcaster Helen Lewis. Tickets available now https://bit.ly/4wfM5tb You can find out everything you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus merch, events and full lists of all episodes including PPF+ bonus episodes on our website https://www.ppfideas.com Next time: Where Are We Going? The Future of Work Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    57 mins
  • Now & Then with Robert Saunders: The General Strike @100 Part 2

    Now & Then with Robert Saunders: The General Strike @100 Part 2
    May 6 2026
    Today it’s the second part of David’s conversation with historian Robert Saunders about the meaning of the 1926 General Strike on its hundredth anniversary. How did the strike end and was its outcome a foregone conclusion? Why did the government’s political victory turn so quickly into electoral defeat? How close did Britain come to another general strike in the miners’ disputes of the 1970s and 1980s? And what are the prospects for a general strike today? Join us at the Cheltenham Science Festival on Wednesday 3rd June for a live recording of the podcast with David in conversation with Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, to talk about trust, democracy and knowledge in a divided world. Tickets available now https://www.cheltenhamfestivals.org/events/the-politics-of-trust-lessons-from-wikipedia You can find out everything you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus merch, events and full lists of all episodes including PPF+ bonus episodes on our website https://www.ppfideas.com Next time: Live Film Special – Misha Glenny on The Third Man Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    1 hr and 2 mins
  • Now & Then with Robert Saunders: The General Strike @100

    Now & Then with Robert Saunders: The General Strike @100
    May 3 2026
    In today’s episode David talks to historian Robert Saunders about the meaning of Britain’s one and (so far) only general strike on its hundredth anniversary. Was the strike a revolutionary event or an industrial dispute gone wrong? Who won and who lost the battle of ideas? Did it reveal something distinctive about Britain and its politics? Was this a divided nation or one that had more in common than it realised? Join us at the Cheltenham Science Festival on Wednesday 3rd June for a live recording of the podcast with David in conversation with Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, to talk about trust, democracy and knowledge in a divided world. Tickets available now https://www.cheltenhamfestivals.org/events/the-politics-of-trust-lessons-from-wikipedia You can find out everything you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus merch, events and full lists of all episodes and PPF+ bonus episodes on our website https://www.ppfideas.com Next time: The General Strike @100 Part Two - The Legacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    1 hr
  • Live Film Special: South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut w/Beeban Kidron

    Live Film Special: South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut w/Beeban Kidron
    Apr 29 2026
    Today’s episode was recorded in front of a live audience at the Regent Street Cinema in London: David talks to film director and campaigner Beeban Kidron about the 1999 film-length version of South Park. In among all the swearing and stupidity is a serious satire of censorship, moral panics and political manipulation. How did a film from the 20th century see so sharply what was coming in the 21st? And how does the satire look now in the age of big tech and social media madness? Plus philosopher Paul Sagar gives us his grand theory of South Park. You can find out everything you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus merch, events and full lists of all episodes and PPF+ bonus episodes on our website https://www.ppfideas.com Next time: Now & Then with Robert Saunders – The General Strike @100 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    1 hr and 9 mins
  • Talking … Peter Mandelson and New Labour w/Helen Thompson

    Talking … Peter Mandelson and New Labour w/Helen Thompson
    Apr 26 2026
    In today’s episode David and Helen Thompson explore the tortured relationship between Peter Mandelson and the New Labour project that he helped to create and now seems finally to have destroyed. How has the whole history of New Labour been shaped by its origin in ideas of betrayal? Why did Tony Blair and Gordon Brown both end up depending on Mandelson while despairing of each other? What held their relationships together and what caused them to fall apart? Out tomorrow on PPF+: the second part of this conversation in which David and Helen bring the story up to the present: how does the drama ultimately end? To get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening sign up to PPF+ now https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus Join us on Wednesday 6th May at the Regent Street Cinema in London for the third film in our new season: a screening of The Third Man followed by a live podcast recording with writer and broadcaster Misha Glenny. Tickets available now https://bit.ly/3O5rSEY You can find out everything you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus merch, events and full lists of all episodes and PPF+ bonus episodes on our website https://www.ppfideas.com Next Time: South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut w/Beeban Kidron Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    57 mins
  • PPF+: A Taste Of What You’ve Been Missing (Taster 2)

    PPF+: A Taste Of What You’ve Been Missing (Taster 2)
    Apr 24 2026
    In today’s extra episode some more highlights from the PPF+ archive in another selection we first put out last summer: here are a few more excerpts we think you might enjoy. In this episode you’ll hear David talking about In the Loop and the question of why politicians do and don’t resign; Robert Saunders on the legacy of Brexit for politics today; Shannon Vallor on why AI is a vision not of the future but of the past; David on the appeal of High Noon for American presidents; and Alec Ryrie on the relationship between Calvinism, Puritanism and the rise and fall of apartheid South Africa. To get these and all of our bonus episodes plus all future bonuses and ad-free listening sign up to PPF+ now. It’s £5 per month or £50 for the year and you will be helping this podcast to keep going and growing. You can also gift a 6-month or a 12-month PPF+ subscription: https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus You can find out everything you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus merch, events and full lists of all episodes and PPF+ bonus episodes on our website https://www.ppfideas.com Next Time: Helen Thompson on Peter Mandelson and New Labour Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    1 hr
  • PPF+: A Taste Of What You’ve Been Missing (Taster 1)

    PPF+: A Taste Of What You’ve Been Missing (Taster 1)
    Apr 23 2026
    In today’s extra episode some more highlights from the PPF+ archive in a selection we first put out last summer: here are a few more excerpts we think you might enjoy. In this episode you’ll hear David talking to Helen Thompson about Apocalypse Now, David exploring Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, unpicking the relationship between The Futurist Manifesto and fascism, reflecting on Claude Lanzmann’s epic Holocaust documentary Shoah and in conversation with historian Chris Clark about 1848 and the future of liberal politics. To get these and all of our bonus episodes plus all future bonuses and ad-free listening sign up to PPF+ now. It’s £5 per month or £50 for the year and you will be helping this podcast to keep going and growing. You can also gift a 6-month or a 12-month PPF+ subscription: https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus. You can find out everything you need to know about this podcast – who we are, what we do, plus merch, events and full lists of all episodes and PPF+ bonus episodes on our website https://www.ppfideas.com Tomorrow: Some More Of What You’ve Been Missing Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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    55 mins