The Reith Lectures
BBC Radio 4
Significant international thinkers deliver the BBC's flagship annual lecture series
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Top 10 The Reith Lectures Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best The Reith Lectures episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to The Reith Lectures for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite The Reith Lectures episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
English Lessons
The Reith Lectures
06/10/08 • 43 min
Jonathan Spence lectures about China.
Spence examines China's relations with the United Kingdom through three centuries of trade, warfare, unequal treaties and missionary endeavours that shaped their mutual perceptions.
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The Clanking of Medieval Chains
The Reith Lectures
11/12/86 • 29 min
Serving Judge Lord McCluskey gives his second Reith lecture from the series entitled 'Law, Justice and Democracy'.
In this lecture entitled 'The Clanking of Medieval Chains', Lord McCluskey examines how judges think. He asks how with precisely the same starting materials in terms of fact and legal tradition, judges can come to such diametrically opposite conclusions.
Managing the Unmanageable
The Reith Lectures
07/17/18 • 57 min
Historian Margaret MacMillan assesses how the law and international agreements have attempted to address conflict. Speaking to an audience at the Northern Irish Parliament Buildings at Stormont in Belfast, Professor MacMillan outlines how both states and the people have sought to justify warfare - from self-defence to civil war - focusing on examples from Irish and British history. The programme, including a question and answer session, is presented by Anita Anand.
Producer: Jim Frank Editor: Hugh Levinson
A Child of the Moment
The Reith Lectures
12/01/76 • 29 min
Neurobiologist and lecturer of Physiology at the University of Cambridge Colin Blakemore explores the human memory in his fourth Reith lecture from his series entitled 'Mechanics of the Mind'.
In this lecture entitled 'A Child of the Moment', Professor Blakemore discusses how we create and store the memories which create our identity. He explains how scientists believe that memories consist of synthesized chemical molecules in the brain and reveals examples of how cerebral cortex damage can halt memory formation or lead to an overload.
Let's Kill All the Lawyers
The Reith Lectures
12/10/80 • 29 min
British academic lawyer Professor Sir Ian Kennedy explores the concepts of modern medicine in his sixth Reith lecture from his series entitled 'Unmasking Medicine'.
In this lecture entitled 'Let's Kill All the Lawyers', Sir Ian Kennedy explores how consumerism can regulate the medical industry. He explains how consumerism sets standards, measures performances and provides sanctions for the medical profession. He compares Britain's free National Health Service with the privatised American Health Care System to analyse the best ways of managing the accountability of doctors.
01/09/24 • 26 min
Deepfakes, distrust and democracy: Billions of people will have the chance to vote this year in elections around the world. There will be campaigns in eight of the 10 most populous countries, including India and the Biden/Trump race for the White House in the US. Given the stakes, the chance for AI shenanigans is high. Sam Altman, founder of ChatGPT, has warned “of a new kind of interference that was just not possible before AI.”
It raises two basic questions: How that might work? And, what might it mean? For answers, Katya speaks with leading experts in AI and democracy, each of whom have delivered the prestigious BBC Reith Lectures:
Stuart Russell, Professor of Computer Science and founder of the Centre for Human-Compatible Artificial Intelligence at the University of California, Berkeley
Ben Ansell, Professor of Comparative Democratic Institutions at Nuffield College, Oxford University
The Global Story brings you trusted insights from BBC experts around the world, with Katya Adler. We want your ideas, stories and experiences to help us understand and tell The Global Story. Email us at [email protected]. You can also message us or leave a voice note on WhatsApp on +44 330 123 9480. #TheGlobalStory
This episode was made by Neal Razzell, Tom Kavanaugh and Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty. The technical producer was Matt Hewitt. The assistant editor is Sergi Forcada Freixas and the senior news editor is Jonathan Aspinwall.
The New Magicians
The Reith Lectures
11/12/80 • 28 min
British academic lawyer Professor Sir Ian Kennedy explores the concepts of modern medicine in the second Reith lecture in his series entitled 'Unmasking Medicine'.
In this lecture entitled 'The New Magicians', Sir Ian Kennedy compiles a list of the inappropriate directions that modern medicine has taken, revealing how he believes that it can be pinpointed to the medical education system. He complains medical practitioners have become driven by solving problems of science to the detriment of humanity.
Civilians and War
The Reith Lectures
07/10/18 • 57 min
Historian Margaret MacMillan dissects the relationship between war and the civilian. Speaking to an audience in Beirut, she looks back at the city's violent past and discusses the impact of conflict on noncombatants throughout the centuries. She explores how civilians have been deliberately targeted, used as slaves and why women are still often singled out in mass rapes. And she addresses the proposition that human beings are becoming less, not more violent. The programme is chaired by Anita Anand.
Producer: Jim Frank Editor: Hugh Levinson
Fearing and Loving: Making Sense of the Warrior
The Reith Lectures
07/03/18 • 57 min
Historian Margaret MacMillan asks why both men and women go to war. "We are both fascinated and repulsed by war and those who fight," she says. In this lecture, recorded at York University, she explores looks at the role of the warrior in history and culture and analyses how warriors are produced. And she interrogates the differences that gender plays in war. Anita Anand presents the programme recorded in front of an audience, including a question and answer session.
Producer: Jim Frank Editor: Hugh Levinson
Trusting the Judges
The Reith Lectures
11/26/86 • 29 min
Serving Judge Lord McCluskey gives his fourth Reith lecture from his series entitled 'Law, Justice and Democracy'.
In this lecture, Lord McCluskey counters Lord Denning's exhortation of 'trust the judges' and argues instead for a simplification of the law. He argues that there should be predictable outcomes because the method of adjudication ought, as far as possible, to be the relatively mechanical process. It should apply a precise set of unambiguous rules to the facts and not take a wide-ranging philosophical approach.
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FAQ
How many episodes does The Reith Lectures have?
The Reith Lectures currently has 306 episodes available.
What topics does The Reith Lectures cover?
The podcast is about Society & Culture, Podcasts and Government.
What is the most popular episode on The Reith Lectures?
The episode title 'English Lessons' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on The Reith Lectures?
The average episode length on The Reith Lectures is 36 minutes.
How often are episodes of The Reith Lectures released?
Episodes of The Reith Lectures are typically released every 7 days.
When was the first episode of The Reith Lectures?
The first episode of The Reith Lectures was released on Dec 24, 1948.
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