Programme Details

Paul Allen talks to a writer described as "one of the most incisive thinkers of is generation" - Paul Gilroy, author of the seminal book on the shifting nature of British culture There Ain't no Black in the Union Jack. His latest book is called After Empire and uses the concept of melancholia to describe the British nation's failure to come to terms with its loss of colonial power and global prestige. Does Britain truly appreciate the opportunities of its multicultural, post colonial present?

Visitors to the latest theatrical venture by the Shunt Collective enter their new show Tropicana thought a small door under the arches of London Bridge Railway Station. They are warned that the show is "not suitable for people of a nervous disposition" before being led into the labyrinthine darkness. Paul Allen braves this temporary theatre site and Susannah Clapp reviews the show on tonight's Night Waves - is Shunt risky and innovative or fatuous and indulgent? 

Also on Night Waves one of Ireland's best living poets, Paul Durcan, celebrates his sixtieth birthday with a new collection, The Art of Life. He reads from the book and explains how he puts himself into the shoes of a host of characters, including a roofer, a bishop, a bird and a pregnant single mother.

And 25 years on the London Review of Books is still going strong. Paul Allen and guests talk about the attraction and future of this specialist area of publishing.

Night Waves with Paul Allen, this Friday at 9.30pm BBC Radio 3.