Arts & Ideas Folgen

Rana Mitter & Susannah Clapp review a new production of Simon Gray's Quartermaine's Terms starring Rowan Atkinson. Rana also talks to Neil Shubin about his new book, the Universe Within, which traces the history of the cosmos in the human body. In another new book co-author Juan Pablo Cardenal along with Professor O.A. Westad discuss China's Silent Army and whether their investments abroad have sinister and disturbing implications? And Rana talks to Nihad Sirees and Malu Halasa about writing in Syria.

As the Tate Britain opens a new exhibition of the work of Kurt Schwitters, art critic Charlotte Mullins joins Matthew Sweet to review and to reassess the oeuvre of the German painter and sculptor. Dr Rupa Huq discusses her new book On The Edge, in which she argues that the English suburb has transformed from a paradise to a pressure cooker. As gender has been a topic for national debate recently, Julie Bindel, Jane Fae and Lynne Segal debate the concept of gender as a social category. And Lara Feigel discusses her new book The Love Charm of Bombs, a wartime biography of five writers.

With the publication of a new, updated version of The Rotten Heart of Europe, a book which caused outrage and delight on its first release, Anne McElvoy discusses the current situation in Europe with the book’s author Bernard Connolly and economist Anatole Kaletsky. Journalist Michael Goldfarb reviews Zero Dark Thirty, the new film which traces the hunt for Osama Bin Laden. Anne heads a debate on the shifting definition of the artist, with Tom Morris, poet Don Paterson and critic Sarah Kent. And photographer Juergen Teller takes Anne on a walk around his new exhibition at the ICA.