Episode 5: Leading questions

Available for over a year

Comedian and classicist Jon Harvey, explores modern British democracy through an ancient Athenian lens. If the one thing we can all agree on is that our state is in a state, could the world’s original democrats help us right the ship? Democracy was born in ancient Athens and lasted for nearly 200 years. Not all Athenians were democrats - perhaps the most famously outspoken anti-democrat Socrates ended up sentenced to death, ironically by a vote of the people. But if an Athenian democrat time-travelled to 2019, what would he make of what's going on in Britain? Could he fix the chaos? In this final episode, Jon explores leadership. Is it a paradox that democracy needs good leaders? Compared to ancient Athens, how well do our leaders stack up? Jon is a politician of sorts, having recently challenged Boris Johnson at the general election as his alien alter-ego Count Binface. Written and presented by Jon Harvey Produced by Polly Thomas and Eloise Whitmore Executive Producer: Dixi Stewart A Naked production for BBC Radio 4