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Past Present Future

David Runciman

300 episodes

Past Present Future is a bi-weekly History of Ideas podcast with David Runciman, host and creator of Talking Politics, exploring the history of ideas from politics to philosophy, culture to technology. David talks to historians, novelists, scientists and many others about where the most interesting ideas come from, what they mean, and why they matter.

More about the show

Ideas from the past, questions about the present, shaping the future.

New episodes every Wednesday and Sunday.

Episodes page 1 of 6

  1. Can Universities Survive? The Great Expansion

    · 1 h 01 min · S26 E338

    In today’s episode for our series about the plight facing universities David talks to political theorist Alan Finlayson about what’s happened to higher education in the UK since 1945. It is a story of massive expansion…

  2. Can Universities Survive? The Thousand-Year Story Part 2

    · 1 h 00 min · S26 E337

    Today’s episode is the second part of David's conversation with historian William Whyte about how universities have survived for nearly a thousand years and whether they can last much longer. How did the industrial…

  3. Can Universities Survive? The Thousand-Year Story

    · 1 h 00 min · S26 E336

    We start a new series about the long history and current predicament of universities by going back to the beginning. David talks to historian William Whyte about the origin story of the university nearly one thousand…

  4. The History of Transhumanism: Silicon Valley

    · 57 min · S25 E335

    Today’s episode in our series about transhumanism and its astonishing influence looks at how it helped build Silicon Valley. David talks to Duncan Bell about what happened when California became the centre of…

  5. The History of Transhumanism: New Horizons

    · 57 min · S25 E334

    In part two of our series about how transhumanism shaped our world, David talks to Duncan Bell about what happened when sci fi dreams started to become reality. What changed when space travel turned from fantasy to…

  6. The History of Transhumanism: Origins

    · 1 h 02 min · S25 E333

    Today it’s the first episode in a new series about the weird and wonderful world of transhumanism: the idea that human beings can be transformed by technology and machines. David talks to historian of ideas Duncan Bell…

  7. An Ageing World: Simone de Beauvoir on Old Age

    · 54 min · S24 E332

    For the final episode in our series on living in an ageing world David talks to Lyndsey Stonebridge about one of the most interesting and challenging of all writers on the subject of old age – Simone de Beauvoir. Why…

  8. An Ageing World: The Problem of Gerontocracy

    · 59 min · S24 E331

    In today’s episode for our series about living in ageing societies, David talks to historian and legal scholar Samuel Moyn about the problem of gerontocracy, aka the rule of the old. Why do older generations now have…

  9. An Ageing World: The Meaning of Death

    · 58 min · S24 E330

    In today’s episode of our series about the significance of longer human lives David talks to the doctor and writer Richard Coker about the meaning of the event that comes for all of us in the end: death. Are we finding…

  10. An Ageing World: Lifespan vs Healthspan

    · 56 min · S24 E329

    To start our new series about what it means to live in a world of ageing populations, David talks to geneticist Adam Rutherford about the benefits and pitfalls of increasing longevity. Are GLP-1s – drugs like Ozempic,…

  11. The Lives of the Philosophers: Iris Murdoch

    · 1 h 05 min · S23 E328

    Today is the final episode in our series about the relationship between twentieth-century biography and philosophy. David talks to Nikhil Krishnan about the life and thought of Iris Murdoch, a deeply philosophical…

  12. The Lives of the Philosophers: Hannah Arendt

    · 54 min · S23 E327

    In today’s episode about the intersection between twentieth century philosophy and biography David talks to the historian and literary critic Lyndsey Stonebridge about the life and thought of Hannah Arendt. How did…

  13. The Lives of the Philosophers: Elizabeth Anscombe

    · 1 h 01 min · S23 E326

    Today’s episode in our series about twentieth-century philosophy and biography explores the life and thought of Elizabeth Anscombe (G. E. M. Anscombe), a remarkable and remarkably uncompromising philosopher. David…

  14. Now & Then with Robert Saunders: Gladstone vs Disraeli Part 2 (Burnham vs Badenoch)

    · 55 min · S14 E325

    In the second part of David’s conversation with historian Robert Saunders about the impact of the Bulgarian crisis of 1876 on the course of British politics, they discuss how Gladstone used the controversy to plot his…

  15. Now & Then with Robert Saunders: Gladstone vs Disraeli – The Bulgarian Horrors

    · 57 min · S14 E324

    In our occasional series with historian Robert Saunders about significant political anniversaries, we remember the appearance of a pamphlet exactly 150 years ago that changed the course of British politics. On 6th…

  16. The Lives of the Philosophers: Jean-Paul Sartre

    · 55 min · S23 E323

    In today’s episode exploring how twentieth-century philosophy and biography intersect David talks to philosopher and biographer Kate Kirkpatrick about Jean-Paul Sartre, a thinker whose life has been as closely…

  17. The Lives of the Philosophers: J. L. Austin

    · 1 h 02 min · S23 E322

    David talks to philosopher and author Nikhil Krishnan about the life and times of a little known but highly influential twentieth-century philosopher: J. L. Austin, who believed that the deepest truths lay in…

  18. The Lives of the Philosophers: Camus

    · 59 min · S23 E321

    In our series about how twentieth-century philosophy and biography intersect, David talks to philosopher Alex Carter about the life of Albert Camus, novelist, playwright, journalist, celebrity and public intellectual.…

  19. The Lives of the Philosophers: Simone Weil

    · 1 h 03 min · S23 E320

    The second life we explore in our series about the twentieth-century philosophers could not be more different from the first: David talks to philosopher Alex Carter about Simone Weil, who died aged just thirty-four and…

  20. The Lives of the Philosophers: A. J. Ayer

    · 1 h 03 min · S23 E319

    Today we begin a new series exploring twentieth-century philosophy through the lives of the people behind the ideas. First up David talks to philosopher Nikhil Krishnan about A. J. Ayer, the man who helped inspire the…

  21. Forensics on Trial

    · 1 h 01 min · Episode 318

    In today’s episode David talks to forensic anthropologist Sue Black about what happens when forensic science and forensic expertise end up on trial in the courtroom. When and how did scientists get involved in the…

  22. The History of Bad Ideas: Overdiagnosis

    · 59 min · S5 E317

    We come to the end of this series of bad ideas with a conversation with neurologist Suzanne O’Sullivan about the problems of living in an age of diagnosis, when all medical conditions need a label and new labels appear…

  23. The History of Bad Ideas: Short-Form Video

    · 1 h 00 min · S5 E316

    Today’s bad idea is one with a very recent history but also a long backstory: David talks to author and journalist James Marriott about what happens when the written word gets supplanted by video and when videos get…

  24. The History of Bad Ideas: Decadence

    · 57 min · S5 E315

    Today’s bad idea is also one that is very hard to pin down: David talks to writer and literary scholar Ian Ellison about the concept of decadence, which went from explaining the fall of ancient Rome to becoming a label…

  25. The History of Bad Ideas: The Romantic Hero

    · 56 min · S5 E314

    Today’s bad idea spans literature, film, pop culture and plenty else besides: David talks to literary critic and memoirist Catherine Taylor about what’s wrong with romantic heroes, from Byron and Heathcliff to James…

  26. The History of Bad Ideas: The Electoral College

    · 57 min · S5 E313

    Today’s bad idea is one the United States has been stuck with for a long time: David talks to historian of America Adam Smith about the damage done by the idea of the electoral college. Why was it thought necessary by…

  27. The History of Bad Ideas: Utilitarianism

    · 58 min · S5 E312

    Today’s episode in the history of bad ideas is about one of the central ideas in modern philosophy: utilitarianism, or the view that what matters is the greatest happiness of the greatest number. David talks to…

  28. The History of Bad Ideas: Political Leadership is What Counts

    · 59 min · S5 E311

    Today’s bad idea is a pervasive political myth: the notion that what really matters at election time is political leadership. David talks to political scientist Jane Green about why leaders are less important than they…

  29. The History of Bad Ideas: Celebrity

    · 1 h 08 min · S5 E310

    David talks to historian and broadcaster Greg Jenner about the surprising history of the idea of celebrity, from Roman generals to 18th-century child stars to contemporary pop culture icons. How is celebrity different…

  30. The History of Bad Ideas: Deliverism

    · 57 min · S5 E309

    Today’s episode is about a bad idea with a very recent history: David talks to political historian David Klemperer about the dangers of deliverism. When did the view that delivering for the voters is a good idea become…

  31. The History of Bad Ideas: Narrative History

    · 56 min · S5 E308

    Today’s bad idea is a way of doing history: David talks to historian Alec Ryrie about the seductions and pitfalls of narrative history. Why do we need more Herodotus and less Thucydides? What makes so many historians…

  32. The History of Bad Ideas: Hysteria

    · 59 min · S5 E307

    For the first in a new set of episodes about bad ideas with interesting histories David talks to the writer and broadcaster Helen Lewis about hysteria, an ancient idea that became a very modern diagnosis. Why was…

  33. Where Are We Going? The Future of the Future

    · 58 min · S19 E306

    In the second part of their conversation about what has happened to our ideas of the future David and Ivan Krastev explore where the future is going next. Why do our expectations of what comes after us shift as we live…

  34. Where Are We Going? The Idea of the Future

    · 1 h 01 min · S19 E305

    Today’s episode is the first of two with writer and political scientist Ivan Krastev exploring what has happened to our ideas of the future. When did thinking about the future become the way we defined our present?…

  35. Live Film Special: Never Let Me Go w/Adam Rutherford

    · 56 min · S16 E304

    Today’s episode was recorded in front of a live audience at the Regent Street Cinema in London: David talks to the geneticist and science writer Adam Rutherford about Mark Romanek’s 2010 film of Kazuo Ishiguro’s 2005…

  36. Now & Then with Robert Saunders: The Brexit Referendum 10 Years On

    · 1 h 04 min · S14 E303

    Today’s episode in our occasional series looking at significant political anniversaries explores the causes and consequences of the Brexit Referendum, which took place 10 years ago this week. David talks to historian…

  37. Live Special: Jimmy Wales on the Lessons of Wikipedia

    · 57 min · Episode 302

    Today’s episode was recorded in front of a live audience at the Cheltenham Science Festival: David talks to Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales about what we can learn from the astonishing success of an encyclopaedia built…

  38. The Great Political Fictions: HHhH

    · 58 min · S2 E301

    Our final great political fiction (for now!) is a meta-fiction and auto-fiction that is also a compelling work of historical reconstruction. Laurent Binet’s HHhH (2010) tells the story of Operation Anthropoid, the…

  39. The Great Political Fictions: The Years

    · 56 min · S2 E300

    The penultimate great political fiction in this series is not strictly a fiction: it’s Annie Ernaux’s retelling of her own life in The Years (2008), thereby recapturing the story of France in the second half of the…

  40. The Great Political Fictions: The Human Factor

    · 1 h 00 min · S2 E299

    Today’s political fiction is a spy novel, a Cold War comedy and a meditation on the nature of good and evil: Graham Greene’s The Human Factor. Why has Greene so fallen out of fashion? What made the South African secret…

  41. The Great Political Fictions: The Dispossessed

    · 1 h 03 min · S2 E298

    Today’s great political fiction is a path-breaking work of science fiction: David explores Ursula Le Guin’s The Dispossessed (1974), which imagines a world without the need for government or coercive authority. What…

  42. The Great Political Fictions: The Golden Notebook Part 2 w/Catherine Taylor

    · 1 h 01 min · S2 E297

    In the second of two episodes about Doris Lessing’s The Golden Notebook, David talks to critic and memoirist Catherine Taylor about the novel’s place in the history of feminism. Is its idea of ‘free women’ meant to be…

  43. The Great Political Fictions: The Golden Notebook

    · 1 h 01 min · S2 E296

    In today’s episode David explores Doris Lessing’s bold and brilliant The Golden Notebook (1962), a book about female emancipation, political disillusionment and much, much more. Why did Lessing insist that the novel’s…

  44. The Great Political Fictions: Brave New World

    · 1 h 06 min · S2 E295

    For the first in a new set of episodes about some of the great political fictions of the past hundred years David explores Aldous Huxley’s much misunderstood dystopian masterpiece Brave New World (1932). How did Huxley…

  45. Live Film Special: Good Night, and Good Luck w/Helen Lewis

    · 1 h 02 min · S16 E294

    Today’s episode was recorded in front of a live audience at the Regent Street Cinema in London: David talks to the writer and broadcaster Helen Lewis about George Clooney’s Good Night, and Good Luck (2005). A film…

  46. The Starmer Crisis in Historical Perspective – Part 2: What’s Next?

    · 1 h 04 min · Episode 293

    Today it’s the second of our episodes trying to make sense of what’s happening in British politics with a bit of historical perspective: this time asking what is likely to follow from the current crisis. David talks to…

  47. The Starmer Crisis in Historical Perspective – Part 1

    · 1 h 13 min · Episode 292

    Today it’s the first of two episodes in which we try to make sense of what’s happening in British politics with a bit of historical perspective: how did we arrive at the current crisis and what might come next? David…

  48. Where Are We Going? The Future Of Work

    · 1 h 02 min · S19 E291

    David talks to author and journalist Sarah O’Connor, who writes about the changing character of work for the Financial Times, to explore what is happening to the world of jobs and employment in the twenty-first…

  49. Live Film Special: The Third Man w/Misha Glenny

    · 57 min · S16 E290

    Today’s episode was recorded in front of a live audience at the Regent Street Cinema in London: David talks to the writer and broadcaster Misha Glenny about Carol Reed’s 1949 masterpiece The Third Man, written by…

  50. Now & Then with Robert Saunders: The General Strike @100 Part 2

    · 1 h 02 min · S14 E289

    Today it’s the second part of David’s conversation with historian Robert Saunders about the meaning of the 1926 General Strike on its hundredth anniversary. How did the strike end and was its outcome a foregone…

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