A Point of View
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A Point of View
A weekly reflection on a topical issue.
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785 Episoden
Our Revels Now Are Ended
Howard Jacobson reflects on the radio essay, after almost two decades of A Point of View.
With nods to Clive James, body-pierced baritones and w...
How History Begins Again
The celebrated American theorist, Francis Fukuyama, in his book 'The End of History and the Last Man' argued that US-style liberalism was the ultimate...
Elbows Up: Canada v Trump
After Donald Trump proposed that Canada could be consumed as America's 51st State, Adam Gopnik reflects on his homeland's history with the United Stat...
Leaning In to Social Media
Zoe Strimpel explains why she's decided to lean in to social media, and not worry about how much time she spends scrolling.
Despite ongoing conc...
Tractors in Whitehall
As farmers prepare for another march at Whitehall in protest at the government's inheritance tax plans, Michael Morpurgo discusses the growing divide...
Print the Legend
Tom Shakespeare explores the pitfalls of dramatised history and its influence on real life - but confesses to his own minor role in rewriting the past...
The Joy of Archives
From sacks of correspondence belonging to a well known author to archives from the Battle of Waterloo (and the odd wooden leg), Sara Wheeler reflects...
Geese, Aristotle and Migration
Walking along the muddy tracks of the River Ouse near her home a few days ago, Rebecca Stott reflects on migration.
She contemplates the lives...
The Overwhelm
The 'overwhelm' - noun, not verb - has been around 'since at least 1596', AL Kennedy discovers.
She looks at the reasons why the word is making...
On Hyperbole
Remember the days, Howard Jacobson implores us, when we got on fine with 'very'?
Today, Howard argues, 'very’ is not ‘very’ enough for the tim...
Trump, Washington and America First
As Donald Trump prepares to re-enter the White House, Mark Damazer reflects on America's leadership in the world.
Eavesdropping on a focus grou...
On a Gloomy Moment
In deepest, darkest January, Adam Gopnik muses on light and dark.
Adam reminds us that - from the natural world of the ghost moth to the politi...
The Best I Can Do
Sara Wheeler explains why every week for several decades - despite knowing nothing about art - she has called in to London’s National Gallery to look...
On Resolutions
Megan Nolan rediscovers a childhood diary with her first New Year's Resolutions.
She was fascinated and appalled, she says, by what she read:....
A Jolly Good Pud
Mary Beards reflects on what really lies behind our attachment to Christmas ritual and tradition.
In a special edition of A Point of View, r...
Monster Soup
With water companies reeling from criticism over sewage discharge and rising bills, Stephen Smith squelches through London's watery underworld.
A baby's-eye view of the world
Zoe Strimpel on the joys of seeing the world through the eyes of her 9 month old daughter.
'Where previously I would barely have noticed them,'...
House Clearing
Rebecca Stott ponders the task of clearing her Mum's house, and the enormous difficulty of dismantling the things her mother loved and that Rebecca re...
The New Centre Ground
John Gray believes the British state is broken, and that we urgently need a new centre ground in British politics.
'Outside the echo chamber of...
Existentialism and an Escaped Monkey
From the escape of Cholmondley the chimp from London Zoo in 1848, to Chichi from the Kharkiv Zoo in 2022, to a group of 43 macaque monkeys from a rese...
Time Travel
Sara Wheeler reflects on the valuable perspective offered by out-of-date guide books. They shed light on the life of the early traveler - advised to p...
The Brink
In the last of his essays reflecting on America's search for meaning, James Naughtie recalls a meeting a year ago with General Michael Hayden - the fo...
The Old Identity
James Naughtie argues that a common American identity will be achieved - one day - despite the heightened political rhetoric around immigration, that...
Words, Words, Words
From the description of Alexander Hamilton as 'the bastard brat of a Scotch pedlar', to Lyndon Johnson's depiction of Gerald Ford as a man who 'couldn...
Call Me Ishmael
James Naughtie presents the first of four personal essays exploring America's 'wild search for meaning' in the run-up to November's presidential elect...
Paranoids and Publicists
Adam Gopnik revisits two famous American essays from the 1960s and finds a remarkably contemporary vision - and one 'that seems to have an application...
Kamala
From Kamala Harris' 'word salads' to her views about wealth redistribution, Zoe Strimpel finds little to like in a Harris presidency.
But it's...
In Praise of the Nanny State
With the help of certain Conservative politicians, form number 48879-2039-876/WC and a rabbit hutch, Howard Jacobson takes a wry look at the advantage...
Babies Making Babies
Three of Megan Nolan's close friends have given birth in the past year. Another two are doing IVF. And anyone who can afford to, Megan says, is freezi...
Debating the American Future
As America gears up for next week's debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, Sarah Dunant looks at the seismic shift in sexual politics in the U...
I know what it is to crawl
In the week that one of Britain's most famous Paralympians Tanni Grey-Thompson was forced to crawl off a train, Tom Shakespeare describes his encounte...
The Power of Weird
At a village fete in rural France, AL Kennedy finds herself among barrel organs, sleeping piglets and 'a guy in a flowing blue smock gliding about on...
Making the Grade
David Goodhart says that with 40% of universities facing deficits and, he believes, too many graduates chasing too few graduate jobs, it's time for a...
On Imposter Syndrome
Sara Wheeler on why sleeping in Captain Scott's bunk in the Antarctic got her thinking about imposter syndrome.
'It took me many years,' writes...
Change
Will Self muses on change as he prepares for a stem cell transplant, an operation 'which will result in the greatest change in what has been a notably...
Olympics Now and Then
As the Olympics gets underway, Michael Morpurgo says we need to take care that the event doesn't stray too far from the ideals of the Olympics and the...
Empire of Sweat
Adam Gopnik muses on why he'll always love the steam baths in New York.
'My own pet answer,' Adam says, 'justified by intuition and half-heard r...
No Country for Old Men
Sarah Dunant argues that Joe Biden's refusal to understand his moment in history is forcing the nation to confront the fact that she is no longer youn...
Nothing but Nightingale
A night walk, listening to nightingales, and a memory of her late father lead Rebecca Stott to ponder Iris Murdoch's theory of 'unselfing'.
The...
The Stuff of Museums
Mary Beard argues that 21st Century disputes about what museums should own - or give back - are far from being a modern phenomenon.
'Almost as...