Start The Week

On Start the Week Tom Sutcliffe talks to Josie Rourke about her production of Coriolanus, the story of the war hero destroyed by his own pride and the forces of realpolitik. His battle strategy fails on the streets of Rome as the masses get their first taste of democracy. David Runciman asks whether democracy breeds complacency rather than wisdom or reform, and in his study of Strategy, Lawrence Freedman asks why great military strategists often make such poor political leaders. Dominic Lawson tries to keep his moves hidden, as he enthuses about the world of chess.Producer: Katy Hickman.

On Start the Week Anne McElvoy talks to the geneticist Alison Woollard about the extraordinary developments in biological science in the last decade, and how switching on and off certain genes could improve and extend life. The psychologist Kathryn Asbury studies the vexed question of nature and nurture, and whether a better understanding of genetic influence can improve children's education. Professor Roger Kneebone explains the role of jazz improvisation in the operating theatre, and what recreating surgery from the 1980s can teach modern clinicians. Raiding the past for hidden gems fascinates the conductor Sir Mark Elder as he prepares to bring operatic rarities to a new audience.Producer: Katy Hickman.

Bridget Kendall talks to Patrick Keiller about the relationship between film, cities and landscape. Victoria Henshaw is interested in what our cities smell like, and what we lose when we sterilise our environment. The poet Robin Robertston has written about the bleak, remote island of St Kilda and how the remnants of its close-knit community left together in 1930. The importance and difficulty of creating a sense of community is at the heart of Giles Fraser's new series which asks whether we've become merely nostalgic for a bygone age of close neighbourhoods, or whether it's possible to reconstruct them.Producer: Natalia Fernandez.

Tom Sutcliffe looks at the future of human rights with the campaigner Bianca Jagger and academic Stephen Hopgood. Jagger points to the failure of the global community to tackle violence against women and girls, while Hopgood sounds the death knell for international Human Rights with the rise of religious conservatism and the decline in influence of Europe and America. Pakistan's Tribal Area close to Afghanistan is the setting for Fatima Bhutto's debut novel, and the playwright Howard Brenton examines the chaos of the partition of India in his latest production, Drawing The Line.Producer: Katy Hickman.

Bridget Kendall looks back at the formative years of Gandhi with the historian Ramachandra Guha and opera director Phelim McDermott. At the turn of the twentieth century Gandhi spent more than twenty years in South Africa and England: Guha argues that these early experiences shaped his future ideas, while McDermott stages Gandhi's spiritual progress towards nonviolent protest in his production of the opera Satyagraha. Gandhi returned to India just after the outbreak of the First World War and the international historian David Reynolds looks at the legacy of the Great War, and its impact on the decision-makers of the future. The Editor of Prospect Magazine, Bronwen Maddox, explores its legacy.Producer: Katy Hickman.

Andrew Marr returns to Start the Week for a special programme on the early 17th century poet George Herbert. His English poetry was never published in his lifetime, but he hoped it would act as consolation 'of any dejected poor soul', and his latest biographer John Drury argues that with its focus on love over theology, his poetry still speaks to and for modern readers. The composer Sir John Tavener and the writer Jeanette Winterson discuss prayer in a secular age, and the power of music and words to soothe the soul.This programme was recorded before the sad announcement of Sir John Tavener's death.Producer: Katy Hickman.

Stephanie Flanders contemplates nothing with science editor Jeremy Webb who is fascinated with the idea of vacuum, voids and absolute zero; and astronomer Carolin Crawford explains there's more to black holes than meets the eye. The director Simon McBurney looks to reveal all in his production of the Magic Flute, including liberating the orchestra from the pit to centre stage; and Fiona Shaw asks 'is this all?' in her re-imagining of Britten's The Rape of Lucretia.Producer: Natalia Fernandez.

Start the Week is at the Radio 3 Free Thinking Festival in Gateshead. Anne McElvoy talks to the historian Catherine Merridale about the Kremlin - a Russian fortress which has retained its original medieval function to intimidate and control, and which holds a special place in the imagination. Few buildings in England inspire such fear, but Simon Thurley explores how the country's architecture has influenced the world. The Newcastle-born writer Michael Chaplin looks to the history of the River Tyne to understand the changing fortunes of the city and its population; and the Indian writer Amit Chaudhuri attempts to save the remnants of Calcutta's colonial past under its ever-changing skyline. Producer: Katy Hickman.

On Start the Week Stephanie Flanders asks the head of the British Red Cross, Sir Nick Young, whether the charity's principle of neutrality is still as relevant today as it was 150 years ago. The journalist Lindsey Hilsum has reported on the major international conflicts and atrocities in the last few decades and wrestles with the moral complexities of being neutral and impartial. Making judgements about who deserves to be helped and how many, concerns the economist Paul Collier, as he attempts to defuse the explosive subject of immigration. And the Conservative MP Kwasi Kwarteng proposes selling working visas to the highest bidder. Producer: Katy Hickman.

Tom Sutcliffe discusses the role and place of contemporary art in today's global, digital world with the artist Grayson Perry. While the Director of Tate Britain Penelope Curtis looks back to a time when images held such power and caused such outrage that they had to be destroyed, in an exhibition on iconoclasm. Philip Davis offers a defence of the value of reading serious literature. And Nicholas Lovell looks at the money that artists can make, using the internet to change the way they relate to their fans. Producer: Katy Hickman.

Anne McElvoy looks back to the Victorian age with Simon Heffer who argues it laid the foundations for modern society, from the evolution of British democracy, to new attitudes to education, religion and science. Professor of British Government, Anthony King, considers if the blunders of today's parliamentarians has anything on the antics of Gladstone and Disraeli. But the writer DJ Taylor believes it's the era's novels which have left a lasting impression. And the curator Sonia Solicari has created a miscellany of curiosities in her exhibition of contemporary artists influenced and inspired by Victoriana.Producer: Katy Hickman.

Stephanie Flanders talks to the Canadian poet Anne Carson about updating a three thousand year old myth, in which the red winged monster becomes a moody teenage boy. Daljit Nagra takes inspiration from poets across Asia for his own version of the ancient text, Ramayana. The sins of the father are revisited in Richard Eyre's version of Ibsen's Ghosts. And Celtic Europe is the setting for Graham Robb's latest journey, as he uncovers a lost map which reveals hidden meanings in an ancient civilisation.Producer: Katy Hickman.

On Start the Week Stephanie Flanders considers the impact of new technology on 'digital natives', a generation who have never known life without facebook and smartphones. Beeban Kidron's new film explores the lives of teenagers and the corporations that influence and manipulate their online lives for profit. The entrepreneur Jamal Edwards started filming his friends rapping when he was just 15, he's used the web to become a multi-million pound CEO. The academic Farida Vis researches the invisible algorithms that pervade the internet. And Adrian Hon attempts to predict the future - both human and technological - using the objects around us.Producer: Katy Hickman.

As Start the Week returns to Radio 4, Tom Sutcliffe talks to Margaret Atwood about her vision of the future. In the last of a trilogy of dystopian novels, Atwood charts the fortunes of a group of survivors after a man-made plague has devastated the world. There's more man-made corruption and savagery in Vicky Featherstone's first production as the new Artistic Director of the Royal Court Theatre: The Ritual Slaughter of Gorge Mastromas is a dark morality tale. But the philosopher A C Grayling goes back to the Greeks to explore the best of humanity - friendship.Producer: Katy Hickman.

On Start the Week Sue MacGregor asks what happens when the world's population reaches ten billion. The computer scientist, Stephen Emmott argues that time is running out for humanity unless we radically change our behaviour, but the geographer Danny Dorling believes that we should be preparing for the inevitable population decline. Jill Rutter explores the impact of differing scientific advice on politics, and the complexity of evidence-based policy. And with India's population set to exceed that of China, the Nobel prize-winning economist Amartya Sen lambasts political inaction in raising standards for the poorest in society. Producer: Katy Hickman.

On Start the Week Stephanie Flanders discusses social mobility. Zadie Smith's novel NW is a portrait of modern urban life in which characters try, but mostly fail, to escape their past. The Conservative Minister David Willetts and the columnist Owen Jones discuss what meritocracy and opportunity mean in today's society. And the social historian David Kynaston looks to the end of the 1950s when meritocracy became the buzz word of the day. Producer: Katy Hickman.

On Start the Week Jonathan Freedland talks to Hari Kunzru about his dystopian vision, where books and the act of remembering have been banned. Jane Rogers explains how her apocalyptic tale may be set in the future but points to today's abuse of scientific knowledge and the heroism of youth. Past real events are at the heart of James Robertson's latest novel which explores grief, justice and the truth. And the photographer Adam Broomberg asks how far images of war capture the truth.Producer: Katy Hickman.

On Start the Week Anne McElvoy talks to the Russian expert Fiona Hill about the many faces of Vladimir Putin, while Vladislav Zubok considers the impact of the past on the Russia of today. Oliver Bullough turns to drink to understand the soul of the nation and the historian Rachel Polonsky considers the cultural landscape of the post-Soviet era.Producer: Katy Hickman.

On Start the Week Allan Little grapples with super-symmetric particles, superstrings and multiverses with the help of Jon Butterworth. But the writer Jim Baggott dismisses many of the ideas of modern theoretical physics as mere fairy tales and fantasy. The sociologist Hilary Rose bemoans the commercialisation of biological sciences and warns against believing the hype. But the world-renowned stem cell scientist Stephen Minger believes recent developments show great promise for the treatments of many life-threatening diseases. Producer: Natalia Fernandez.

On Start the Week Emily Maitlis talks to the Executive Chairman of Google, Eric Schmidt about the digital future. A future where everyone is connected, but ideas of privacy, security and community are transformed. Former Wikileaks employee James Ball asks how free we are online. The curator Honor Harger looks to art to understand this new world of technology. And worried about this brave new world? David Spiegelhalter, offers a guide to personal risk and the numbers behind it.Producer: Katy Hickman.