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A weekly reflection on a topical issue
Howard Jacobson reflects on the radio essay, after almost two decades of A Point of View. With nods to Clive James, body-pierced baritones a...
The celebrated American theorist, Francis Fukuyama, in his book 'The End of History and the Last Man' argued that US-style liberalism was th...
After Donald Trump proposed that Canada could be consumed as America's 51st State, Adam Gopnik reflects on his homeland's history with the U...
Zoe Strimpel explains why she's decided to lean in to social media, and not worry about how much time she spends scrolling. Despite ongoing...
As farmers prepare for another march at Whitehall in protest at the government's inheritance tax plans, Michael Morpurgo discusses the growi...
Tom Shakespeare explores the pitfalls of dramatised history and its influence on real life - but confesses to his own minor role in rewritin...
From sacks of correspondence belonging to a well known author to archives from the Battle of Waterloo (and the odd wooden leg), Sara Wheeler...
Walking along the muddy tracks of the River Ouse near her home a few days ago, Rebecca Stott reflects on migration. She contemplates the liv...
The 'overwhelm' - noun, not verb - has been around 'since at least 1596', AL Kennedy discovers. She looks at the reasons why the word is mak...
Remember the days, Howard Jacobson implores us, when we got on fine with 'very'? Today, Howard argues, 'very’ is not ‘very’ enough for the t...
As Donald Trump prepares to re-enter the White House, Mark Damazer reflects on America's leadership in the world. Eavesdropping on a focus g...
In deepest, darkest January, Adam Gopnik muses on light and dark. Adam reminds us that - from the natural world of the ghost moth to the pol...
Sara Wheeler explains why every week for several decades - despite knowing nothing about art - she has called in to London’s National Galler...
Megan Nolan rediscovers a childhood diary with her first New Year's Resolutions. She was fascinated and appalled, she says, by what she read...
Mary Beards reflects on what really lies behind our attachment to Christmas ritual and tradition. In a special edition of A Point of View, r...
With water companies reeling from criticism over sewage discharge and rising bills, Stephen Smith squelches through London's watery underwor...
Zoe Strimpel on the joys of seeing the world through the eyes of her 9 month old daughter. 'Where previously I would barely have noticed the...
Rebecca Stott ponders the task of clearing her Mum's house, and the enormous difficulty of dismantling the things her mother loved and that...
John Gray believes the British state is broken, and that we urgently need a new centre ground in British politics. 'Outside the echo chamber...
From the escape of Cholmondley the chimp from London Zoo in 1848, to Chichi from the Kharkiv Zoo in 2022, to a group of 43 macaque monkeys f...
Sara Wheeler reflects on the valuable perspective offered by out-of-date guide books. They shed light on the life of the early traveler - ad...
In the last of his essays reflecting on America's search for meaning, James Naughtie recalls a meeting a year ago with General Michael Hayde...
James Naughtie argues that a common American identity will be achieved - one day - despite the heightened political rhetoric around immigrat...
From the description of Alexander Hamilton as 'the bastard brat of a Scotch pedlar', to Lyndon Johnson's depiction of Gerald Ford as a man w...
James Naughtie presents the first of four personal essays exploring America's 'wild search for meaning' in the run-up to November's presiden...
Adam Gopnik revisits two famous American essays from the 1960s and finds a remarkably contemporary vision - and one 'that seems to have an a...
From Kamala Harris' 'word salads' to her views about wealth redistribution, Zoe Strimpel finds little to like in a Harris presidency. But it...
With the help of certain Conservative politicians, form number 48879-2039-876/WC and a rabbit hutch, Howard Jacobson takes a wry look at the...
Three of Megan Nolan's close friends have given birth in the past year. Another two are doing IVF. And anyone who can afford to, Megan says,...
As America gears up for next week's debate between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, Sarah Dunant looks at the seismic shift in sexual politic...
In the week that one of Britain's most famous Paralympians Tanni Grey-Thompson was forced to crawl off a train, Tom Shakespeare describes hi...
At a village fete in rural France, AL Kennedy finds herself among barrel organs, sleeping piglets and 'a guy in a flowing blue smock gliding...
David Goodhart says that with 40% of universities facing deficits and, he believes, too many graduates chasing too few graduate jobs, it's t...
Sara Wheeler on why sleeping in Captain Scott's bunk in the Antarctic got her thinking about imposter syndrome. 'It took me many years,' wri...
Will Self muses on change as he prepares for a stem cell transplant, an operation 'which will result in the greatest change in what has been...
As the Olympics gets underway, Michael Morpurgo says we need to take care that the event doesn't stray too far from the ideals of the Olympi...
Adam Gopnik muses on why he'll always love the steam baths in New York. 'My own pet answer,' Adam says, 'justified by intuition and half-hea...
Sarah Dunant argues that Joe Biden's refusal to understand his moment in history is forcing the nation to confront the fact that she is no l...
A night walk, listening to nightingales, and a memory of her late father lead Rebecca Stott to ponder Iris Murdoch's theory of 'unselfing'....
Mary Beard argues that 21st Century disputes about what museums should own - or give back - are far from being a modern phenomenon. 'Almost...
Megan Nolan ponders her generation's housing crisis. 'Sometimes it all crashes over me, how adrift I am, and how laughably inconceivable the...
Zoe Strimpel reflects on the 'commercial exploitation' of fandom. From Swiftie 'friendship bracelets' to beauty products and sportswear, she...
When it comes to fast cars or literary festivals, Howard Jacobson reckons that, for the average male, there isn't usually much of a contest....
Mark Damazer looks to George Orwell's essay, 'Politics and the English Language', to see if he can be our guide through the fractious langua...
Sara Wheeler asks whether trying to get away from it all is a futile endeavour. 'We go to all that trouble', writes Sara, 'up at 4.30, cance...
Tom Shakespeare calls for new thinking to fix the current crisis in our prisons. Against a backdrop of overcrowding, violence and high rates...
Rebecca Stott is on a quest for a decent-tasting apple. Along the way she discovers a revival of interest in wonderful heritage varieties: t...
Megan Nolan on the allure of New York and the city's 'main character' syndrome. The city is, she says, 'the place that makes me happier to b...
Patients care apps - which give patients unprecedented access to their health records - are being rolled out by NHS trusts across the countr...
Caleb Azumah Nelson on why anger is no longer a stranger to him, but a friend. He talks of a childhood in which he tried to navigate a world...