Free Thinking Folgen

From minting coins to digital currencies, Anne McElvoy is joined by Harvard economist Kenneth Rogoff, British Museum coin curator Tom Hockenhull, historian of science Patricia Fara and political economist Ann Pettifor to explore the physical and virtual life of money as we approach the fiftieth anniversary of Decimal Day in the UK. The discussion ranges from the symbolism of images we find stamped on individual coins to the cashless society, and whether or not there is a magic money tree. February 15th 1971 was the date when the old British system of pounds, shilling and pence changed, following earlier unsuccessful attempts and the founding of a Decimal Association in 1841. But what is our relationship with money at the moment in a world of bitcoin, and paying by credit cards not loose change ?Patricia Fara's books include Life after Gravity: Isaac Newton's London Career; Pandora's Breeches - Women, Science and Power; Science: A Four Thousand Year History Tom Hockenhull is Curator of Modern Money in the Coins and Medals department at the British Museum which was built upon the various collections of Hans Sloane - amongst them were 20,000 coins. His books include Making Change: The decimalisation of Britain's currency and Symbols of Power : Ten Coins That Changed the World. Kenneth Rogoff is a Professor of Public Policy and Professor of Economics at Harvard University. From 2001-2003, he was Chief Economist and Director of Research at the International Monetary Fund. His books include The Curse of Cash; This Time Is Different: Eight Centuries of Financial Folly co-authored with Carmen Reinhart Ann Pettifor is the author of books including The Green New Deal, and The Production of Money. https://www.annpettifor.com/Producer: Eliane Glaser.You might be interested in the episode of Radio 3's Words and Music broadcasting on Sunday February 21st at 5.30pm which features a series of readings and music exploring the idea of money. In the Free Thinking archives: "new money" and the wealth gap depicted in Edith Wharton's 1920 novel The Age of Innocence https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000c4ln Does Growth Matter? Anne McElvoy talks with demographer Danny Dorling and economists Richard Davies and Petr Barton https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000gbtl Economics: Anne McElvoy talks to Juliet Michaelson, Liam Byrne, John Redwood and Luke Johnson https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03qbv3q Linda Yueh gives the Free Thinking Festival Lecture on Globalisation and restoring faith in the free market https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p062m7mj

Matthew Sweet is joined by Xine Yao, Joe Cain, and Ruth Mace, who've been re-reading Charles Darwin's 1871 book The Descent of Man, and Selection in Relation to Sex. The book offered a radical reinterpretation of what it means to be human by situating us completely within the natural world as a product of natural selection. But it is also a book of its times, as reflected in the language Darwin uses to talk about race and gender. University College, London where our speakers are based - holds the papers of Francis Galton, the Victorian polymath and eugenicist who was Darwin's half cousin and the conversation considers both the positive and the negative ways of interpreting Darwin's book.You will hear a discussion about some of the racial language used in the 19th and 20th centuries.Dr Xine Yao is a BBC/AHRC New Generation Thinker whose main research at University College London focuses on nineteenth century American literature and histories of science and law at Professor Joe Cain is UCL Professor of History and Philosophy of Biology. Ruth Mace is Professor of Evolutionary AnthropologyOn the Free Thinking website you can find a playlist exploring works which are Landmarks of Culture - these include discussions about Karl Marx, George Orwell, Machiavelli, Rachel Carson, Lorraine Hansberry https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01jwn44 And there are discussions about animals including Should We Keep Pets? https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09hzj3y Does My Pet Love Me? https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0004dr9Producer: Luke Mulhall

What we learn from the tattered costumes of actress Ellen Terry, the couture created by Alexander McQueen, and the everyday wardrobe of American women at the turn of the 20th century.V&A fashion curator Claire Wilcox has curated exhibitions on Frida Kahlo and Alexander McQueen, and has written a memoir, called Patch Work. She talks to Shahidha Bari about the pleasures and the challenges of conserving fashion and using it to tell bigger stories in museum displays. They're joined by Veronica Isaac from the University of Brighton, who researches theatre costumes of the 19th and early 20th century, including those of Ellen Terry, and by Cassandra Davies-Strodder from the University of the Arts London, who curated the V&A’s Balenciaga exhibition in 2018 and researches the wardrobes of two American women from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.This episode was made in partnership with the AHRC, part of UKRI. You can find more about New Research in a playlist on the Free Thinking programme website - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03zws90 - where you’ll find other episodes in the New Thinking strand showcasing academic research.You can find other conversations about New Research in a playlist on the Free Thinking website - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03zws90. This includes researchers from the University of Leeds and Huddersfield involved in the Future Fashion project -https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07nhbrd, and a discussion about the display of history in Museums - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p08v3fl5You can see TV programmes going behind the scenes at the V&A on BBC iPlayer https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m000f1xt/secrets-of-the-museumAnd in this episode of Free Thinking Shahidha Bari looks at the Politics of Fashion and Drag; Scrumbly Koldewyn remembers the '60s San Francisco theatre scene; drag at The Royal Vauxhall Tavern in London; and Jenny Gilbert and Shahidha look at environmentalism and fashion at the V&A - https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09zcjchProducer: Emma Wallace