Use BBC.com or the new BBC App to listen to BBC podcasts, Radio 4 and the World Service outside the UK.

Find out how to listen to other BBC stations

The Spark

Leading thinkers posit solutions to the structural problems of our age.

Radio 4,31 episodes

Episodes

ListGrid

Rochelle Burgess and social prescribing
Rochelle Burgess on the case for 'social prescribing' - and why we're doing it wrong.
28 Mar 2023,28 mins
Annie Duke and quitting
Annie Duke, ex-poker player and decision strategist, on how to choose when to quit.
21 Mar 2023,28 mins
Stuart Ritchie and open science
Helen Lewis meets science writer Stuart Ritchie to discuss how science has lost its way.
14 Mar 2023,28 mins
Rory O'Connor and preventing suicide
Helen Lewis meets Rory O'Connor, who sets out his new approach to suicide prevention.
07 Mar 2023,28 mins
Danielle Citron on intimate privacy
Helen Lewis presents a new series of encounters with innovative thinkers.
09 Sep 2022,28 mins
Rory Sutherland and Pete Dyson on transport for humans
Helen Lewis meets Rory Sutherland and Pete Dyson, authors of Transport for Humans.
02 Sep 2022,28 mins
James Bridle and non-human intelligence
Helen Lewis presents a new series of encounters with innovative thinkers.
26 Aug 2022,28 mins
Louise Perry v the Sexual Revolution
Helen Lewis returns with a new series of encounters with innovative thinkers.
19 Aug 2022,28 mins
Carole Hooven and testosterone
Evolutionary biologist Carole Hooven on the impact of testosterone. With Helen Lewis.
17 Dec 2021,28 mins
Mark Williams on the future of trade
Shipping strategist Mark Williams on decarbonising shipping and the future of trade.
10 Dec 2021,28 mins
Julia Galef on motivated cognition
Julia Galef on how 'motivated cognition' blocks clear thinking - and how to get round it.
03 Dec 2021,28 mins
Sam Bowman and building more houses
Economist Sam Bowman on why building more houses will fix multiple problems.
26 Nov 2021,28 mins
Ehsan Masood and GDP
Helen Lewis meets people offering radical solutions to the big problems of our times.
13 Aug 2021,28 mins
Emily Alison and rapport
Helen Lewis meets people offering radical solutions to the big problems of our times.
06 Aug 2021,28 mins
Karen Stenner and the authoritarian predisposition
Helen Lewis meets people offering radical solutions to the big problems of our times.
30 Jul 2021,28 mins
Henry Marsh and terminal illness
Helen Lewis meets people offering radical solutions to the big problems of our times.
23 Jul 2021,28 mins
Noreena Hertz and Loneliness
Helen Lewis meets people offering radical solutions to the big problems of our times.
03 Feb 2021,43 mins
Tim Spector and Food Myths
Helen Lewis meets people offering radical solutions to the big problems of our times.
27 Jan 2021,43 mins
Linda Scott and the Double-X Economy
Helen Lewis meets people offering radical solutions to the big problems of our times.
20 Jan 2021,43 mins
Paul Vallely and Philanthropy
Helen Lewis meets people offering radical solutions to the big problems of our times.
13 Jan 2021,43 mins
Chris Daw and the Abolition of Prisons
Leading thinkers propose solutions to the structural problems of our age.
30 Sep 2020,43 mins
Kiran Gill and Excluded Pupils
Leading thinkers propose solutions to the structural problems of our age.
23 Sep 2020,43 mins
Paul Collier and John Kay v Destructive Individualism
Leading thinkers propose solutions to the structural problems of our age.
16 Sep 2020,43 mins
Pragya Agarwal on unconscious bias
Pragya Agarwal discusses our unintentional biases.
01 Jun 2020,28 mins
Peter Macfadyen and rebuilding democracy
Peter Macfadyen tells Helen Lewis his method for rebuilding democracy from the ground up.
25 May 2020,43 mins
Stuart Russell and Controlling AI
Artificial intelligence pioneer Stuart Russell on how to stop AI destroying the world.
18 May 2020,43 mins
Margaret Heffernan and Preparedness
Helen Lewis meets the writers and thinkers who are breaking new ground.
01 Apr 2020,43 mins
Roy Baumeister v negativity bias
Roy Baumeister on why we must beat the tyranny of our negativity bias. With Helen Lewis.
08 Jan 2020,43 mins
Paul Krugman v zombie economics
Economist Paul Krugman on the ideas that, he argues, block real change. With Helen Lewis.
01 Jan 2020,43 mins
Hilary Cottam and revolutionising the welfare state
Social entrepreneur Hilary Cottam on the future of the welfare state. With Helen Lewis.
18 Dec 2019,43 mins