Listen "29/11/2010"
Episode Synopsis
Andrew Marr travels back to Egypt in the 1950s to a time of religious pluralism and openness with the writer Tarek Osman. As Egypt votes in parliamentary elections, Tarek, asks what has happened in the intervening years. Francis Spufford imagines a very different world with his account of the Soviet Union under Kruschchev, and what could have happened if the dream of plenty had come true. Turkey's best-selling female novelist, Elif Shafak, argues against the constraints of identity politics and the pigeon-holing of multi-cultural writers. While Vicky Kaspi believes that we should be looking to outer space to stimulate curiosity and creativity: the astrophysicist and cosmologist researches some of the universe's most mysterious objects. Producer: Katy Hickman.
More episodes of the podcast Start the Week
Animals and Meaning
29/12/2025
The Dark
15/12/2025
Histories, emotions and identity
08/12/2025
Space, Quantum Frontiers and Cosmic Clues
01/12/2025
Digital Futures and Information Crises
17/11/2025
Saving Tigers, Green Crime and Cli-fi
10/11/2025
Crossing genres with Wayne McGregor
27/10/2025
ZARZA We are Zarza, the prestigious firm behind major projects in information technology.