Today’s episode is the first in a new strand with the historian Robert Saunders looking at significant political anniversaries and their meaning for today. Summer 2025 is 70 years since the UK recorded its lowest ever unemployment rate in peacetime: just 1% (or 215,800 people) in July 1955. David and Robert explore the history of unemployment: how it’s been measured, what it means, why it matters and when it changes the course of political history. From Victorian trade unionism to the Thatcher revolution: who gets to decide on the value of work?

Out now on PPF+: Part 2 of this conversation taking the story from the 1980s to the present, via New Labour, the financial crisis of 2008 and Covid. How has the meaning of work changed over that period? How has it got mixed up with the politics of immigration? And is the Labour Party still the party of labour? To get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening sign up now to PPF+ https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus

Next time in Politics on Trial: Oscar Wilde vs the Philistines

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For today’s episode in Politics on Trial it’s two trials for the price of one, which between them changed the course of British and Irish history. In 1889 the leading Irish politician Charles Parnell was cleared of any involvement in the notorious Phoenix Park murders by Irish republican terrorists seven years earlier. In 1890 Parnell was found to be the adulterer in a divorce case involving his mistress and her husband. That scandal destroyed him, permanently split the campaign for Irish self-government and upended Liberal politics in Britain. How did Parnell come to have such a hold on British and Irish politics? Why could he survive accusations of terrorism but not of adultery? And what does his fate reveal about the high-wire politics of a highly decorous and extremely dangerous age?

For all the information about our autumn season of screenings and live recordings, 'Films of Ideas', and to book tickets, go to our website: https://www.ppfideas.com/events

Next Time: Now and Then w/Robert Saunders: Whatever Happened to Full Employment?

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Today’s political trial is one of the most notorious in American history: eight men charged with and convicted of murder in 1886 for a terrorist outrage that none of them committed. A bomb had been thrown at the police during a workers’ rally in Chicago but this trial was not about punishing the person who threw it. Rather it was a witch hunt of the men and the movement that were thought to have inspired it. Anarchism was put on trial and condemned in the Haymarket case. Who promoted and who resisted the invasion of paranoia and conspiracy theories into an American courtroom? And was it anarchists or was it the forces of law and order that were ultimately responsible for Chicago’s descent into violence and retribution?

For all the information about our autumn season of screenings and live recordings, 'Films of Ideas', and to book tickets, go to our website: https://www.ppfideas.com/events

Next time in Politics on Trial: Charles Parnell vs the English

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Today’s great political trial concerns the prosecution and execution of John Brown in 1859 for his raid on Harper’s Ferry in the attempt to free America’s slaves, an event that helped precipitate the American Civil War. It was also a trial that produced three of the greatest speeches in American history: by Brown himself, by Henry Thoreau and by Frederick Douglass, which between them constitute an indictment of slavery for the ages. How did one man’s unilateral declaration of war convulse an entire nation? And how did his trial confirm what was becoming increasingly clear: that a house divided against itself cannot stand?

For all the information about our autumn season of screenings and live recordings, 'Films of Ideas', and to book tickets, go to our website: https://www.ppfideas.com/events

Next time in Politics on Trial: The Haymarket Eight vs the Police

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For today’s epic political trial, David talks to American historian and PPF regular Gary Gerstle about the treason trial of Aaron Burr in 1807. Why was Burr not put on trial for killing Alexander Hamilton in a duel? Was Burr really planning to invade Mexico or was it a set-up? Why was President Thomas Jefferson so determined to bring Burr down? Why was Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas Marshall so determined to prevent that from happening? And why did being acquitted of treason still end Burr’s career once and for all?

For all the information about our autumn season of screenings and live recordings, 'Films of Ideas', and to book tickets, go to our website: https://www.ppfideas.com/events

Next time in Politics on Trial: John Brown vs Slavery

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Today’s epoch-making political trial concerns the interrogation, conviction and execution of Louis XVI at the heart of the French Revolution in 1792-3. For many at the time and since this event had powerful echoes of the trial and execution of Charles I - but in fact the trial of Louis was very different in almost every way. Why and how did Louis choose to defend himself? Was he condemned because he was a king or because he was no longer a king? Was the decision to send him to the guillotine really only decided by one vote out of more than seven hundred? And who won in the court of history?

Out now on PPF+: Part 2 of David’s conversation with Alexander Douglas about the pitfalls of the search for identity, from Silicon Valley to ‘impostor syndrome’. To get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening sign up now to PPF+ https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus

For all the information about our autumn season of screenings and live recordings, 'Films of Ideas', and to book tickets, go to our website: https://www.ppfideas.com/events

Next time in Politics on Trial: Aaron Burr vs the Constitution w/Gary Gerstle

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To start our new instalment of episodes about the most consequential political trials in history David explores the trial of the eighteenth century: the impeachment of Warren Hastings that ran in the British parliament from 1788-95. Hastings had been Governor-General of Bengal, controlling much of India for Britain and for the East India Company and making himself and many others rich in the process. So why did his former allies turn on him? Why did his trial last for seven years? Why did it end up as a festival of hypocrisy and madness? And why would its closest twenty-first century parallel be the impeachment of Elon Musk?

Out now on PPF+: Part 2 of David’s conversation with Alexander Douglas in which they talk about how Silicon Valley took a philosophical concept of identity and turned it into a commodity to be marketed. Plus, how should we think about ‘impostor syndrome’? To get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening sign up now to PPF+ https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus

For all the information about our autumn season of screenings and live recordings, 'Films of Ideas', and to book tickets, go to our website: https://www.ppfideas.com/events

Next time in Politics on Trial: Louis XVI vs the People

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For the final episode in our current series on the history of bad ideas, David talks to philosopher Alexander Douglas about the damage that can be done by the idea of identity. Why is the search for a distinctive personal identity such a futile quest? How does it lead to an identity politics of exclusion and violence? What can we learn from the philosopher Spinoza about having an identity without identity? And what can we glean from the experience of dementia about losing ourselves?

'Against Identity: The Wisdom of Escaping the Self' by Alexander Douglas is out now wherever you get your books https://bit.ly/40d8xES

Available from Saturday on PPF+: Part 2 of David’s conversation with Alexander Douglas in which they talk about how Silicon Valley took a philosophical concept of identity and turned it into a commodity to be marketed. Plus, how should we think about ‘impostor syndrome’? To get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening sign up now to PPF+ https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus

Next time we return to Politics on Trial with an 18th-century blockbuster: Warren Hastings vs the British Empire

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In today’s episode of the history of bad ideas, David talks to political philosopher Alan Finlayson about behaviourism, a theory of psychology that has penetrated to the heart of politics. How did we get from Pavlov’s Dog to a prescription for a better society? What is the relationship between behavioural utopianism and contemporary economics? How did behaviourism get turned into something called ‘Nudge’? And if we are being nudged into better behaviour, what is left for politics?

Next time on The History of Bad Ideas: Identity

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Today’s bad idea is one with a short history but a big reach: the term polycrisis only came into being at the end of the last century but now it seems to be everywhere. David talks to historian Gary Gerstle about how this idea was originally conceived, what its current vogue says about the times in which we live and whether this really is a polycrisis or something else. Why is it comforting to think that the crises through which we are living are all connected in some way? Why is it also dangerous to think like that? And what does it say about our sense of powerlessness that we haven’t got a better way of describing the problems of our world?

Next time on The History of Bad Ideas: Behaviourism

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For today’s episode in the history of bad ideas David talks to philosopher Shannon Vallor about the myth that technology can be value free. It’s easy to see why Silicon Valley is so keen on the idea that it’s never the fault of the tech, only of the people who use it. But why do we let them get away with it? Where did this idea come from? How has it also poisoned arguments about gun laws and nuclear weapons? And what can we do to fight it and try to get technology that works with – not against – basic human values?

Out now on PPF+: A bonus episode with historian of religion Alec Ryrie exploring ‘The Age of Hitler’. When did not being like Hitler rather than trying to be like Jesus become the benchmark of moral conduct? And why is that period coming to an end? To get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening sign up now to PPF+ https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus

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For today’s episode in the history of bad ideas David talks to economic historian Marc Palen about monopoly, an idea that has always had its defenders as well as its fierce critics. Why do monopolies arise even in supposedly competitive economies? How did the anti-monopoly movement of Henry George in the late-19th century argue that the monopolists could be taken down? How are those struggles echoed in the fight against Silicon Valley monopolists today? And what has all this got to do with Monopoly the board game?

Coming on Saturday on PPF+: A bonus episode with historian of religion Alec Ryrie exploring ‘The Age of Hitler’. Why did not being like Hitler rather than trying to be like Jesus become the benchmark of moral conduct? And why is that period now coming to an end? To get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening sign up now to PPF+ https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus

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Today’s bad idea is one that started out as satire and ended as a political slogan. David talks to historian of ideas Ben Jackson about meritocracy and its origins in Michael Young’s book The Rise of the Meritocracy published in 1958. Young foresaw a populist revolt against the meritocratic elite in the year 2034. Was his vision prophetic? Why did politicians like Tony Blair embrace a concept that Young thought was antithetical to a fair and just society? And who are the winners and losers from meritocracy today?

Next time on The History of Bad Ideas: Monopoly

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For today’s episode in the history of bad ideas David talks to cultural historian Tom Wright about charisma, a term that often feels essential for understanding modern politics but which ends up obscuring far more than it explains. How did an old idea from Christian theology get used to explain the hold that political leaders have over crowds? Why is it so important not to confuse charm with charisma? What has made a word from early twentieth-century social science ubiquitous on twenty-first-century dating sites? And if Trump hasn’t got charisma, then what has he got?

Out now on PPF+: A bonus bad ideas episode in which David and Dan Snow talk about all sorts of ‘decisive battles’ that weren’t what they seem: Yarmuk, Hastings, Agincourt, Trafalgar, Warsaw 1920, Stalingrad, and more. To get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening sign up now to PPF+ https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus

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In today’s episode about the power of bad ideas, David talks to historian and podcaster Dan Snow about the myth that wars are settled on the battlefield. Why are we so drawn to the idea of the decisive military showdown? Is Napoleon to blame? What are the forces that actually settle military conflicts? Plus: were Abba really so wrong that Waterloo won the war?

Out tomorrow: A bonus episode in which David and Dan explore a range of battles to see what got settled and what didn’t: Yarmuk, Hastings, Agincourt, Trafalgar, Warsaw 1920, Stalingrad. To get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening sign up now to PPF+ https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus

Next time on The History of Bad Ideas: Charisma

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Today’s bad idea is ‘genius’, the label that has enabled all sorts of terrible behaviour through the ages. Writer and broadcaster Helen Lewis explains how and why the idea of genius gets misapplied to people and things that just aren’t. Why are geniuses meant to be tortured? Why are individual geniuses prized over the collaborations that lie behind most innovations? Why do we think that people who are brilliant at one thing will be good at everything else? Plus, David makes the case for Dickens as a bona fide genius.

The Genius Myth by Helen Lewis is out from today wherever you get your books https://bit.ly/3FSAKda

David’s new 20-part series Postwar – about the 1945 general election and the making of modern Britain – is available now on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002d8v1

Next time on The History of Bad Ideas: The Decisive Battle w/Dan Snow

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For the first episode in our new series about how bad ideas take hold, David talks to economist Mark Blyth about austerity, the cost-cutting idea that refuses to die. Why is it an article of faith that states need periodic purging to stop them getting too greedy? Why does this so often happen at times when it does most harm, from the 1930s to the financial crisis that began in 2008? And how is the politics of austerity playing out today, in Starmer’s Britain, in Milei’s Argentina and in the DOGE wars happening in Trump’s America?

David’s new 20-part series Postwar – about the 1945 general election and the making of modern Britain – is available now on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/series/m002d8v1

Next time on The History of Bad Ideas: Genius w/Helen Lewis

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Today’s political trial is perhaps the most consequential in English history: the trial and execution of King Charles I for treason in January 1649. How could a king commit treason when treason was a crime against the king? How could a court try a king when a king has no peers? How could anyone claim to speak for the people after a civil war when so many people had been on opposite sides? The answers to these questions would cost more than one person his life – but they would also change forever the prospect of holding tyrants to account.

Out now on PPF+: Part 2 of David’s conversation with Robert Saunders about the 1975 European referendum and the question of why it all ended up so differently in the Brexit referendum of 2016. Sign up now to get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus

David’s new 20-part series Postwar – about the 1945 general election and the making of modern Britain – is available now on BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002d8v1

Next time: The History of Bad Ideas: Austerity w/Mark Blyth

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Today’s trial is one of the most notorious in history but also one of the most misremembered. Galileo’s epic confrontation with the Catholic Church over the question of whether the earth moves round the sun – culminating with his interrogation and condemnation in Rome in 1633 – was not just a matter of truth vs ignorance or science vs superstition. It was also twenty-year long struggle on the part of both sides to find a way to co-exist. Did they succeed? Not exactly, but it wasn’t for want of trying. Then – and perhaps now – science and religion needed each other.

Out now on PPF+: Part 2 of David’s conversation with Robert Saunders about the 1975 European referendum and the question of why it all ended up so differently in the Brexit referendum of 2016. Sign up now to get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus

David’s new 20-part series Postwar – about the 1945 general election and the making of modern Britain – starts on BBC Radio 4 tomorrow and the first 10 episodes will be available to download on BBC Sounds https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002d8v1

Next time in Politics on Trial: Charles I vs Parliament

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Today’s episode is about a pivotal event in British history that took place exactly 50 years ago: the 1975 referendum on Britain’s membership of the European Community. David talks to historian Robert Saunders about why it was so different in so many ways from the Brexit referendum in 2016. Why in 1975 were Labour and the SNP the Eurosceptic parties? What made the Tories pro-European? Where was immigration as an election issue? How did the Yes campaign overturn a big deficit in the polls? Plus: why didn’t it settle the question, so that another referendum had to be held four decades later?

Available tomorrow on PPF+: Part 2 of this conversation in which David and Robert try to make sense of the many differences between the 1975 and 2016 referendums as well as exploring where Britain stands in relation to Europe in 2025. Sign up now to get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus

Robert Saunders’s definitive history of the 1975 referendum Yes To Europe! is available wherever you get your books https://bit.ly/3FE04mP

Next time in Politics on Trial: Galileo vs the Inquisition

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