A Point Of View

Rebecca Stott reflects on why we should be looking to the Romans, and our other ancestors, for imaginative ways of building. "People who walked the planet long before us knew more sustainable ways to build their homes", she writes. With concrete responsible for 8% of the world's carbon emissions, Rebecca argues that we urgently need to find alternatives. Producer: Adele Armstrong

"The Venetian Republic," writes Adam Gopnik, "built one of the greatest and most beautiful churches in the world, Santa Maria della Salute, to celebrate the end of one of their plagues in 1630." Adam examines why today - as we attempt to put the pandemic behind us - any sense of exaltation is notable by its absence. Producer: Adele Armstrong

Zoe Strimpel questions some of the dominant gender narratives around the Me Too movement. 'The problem,' she writes, 'is that there is no space in all this for the lives and experiences of the many straight women who don't have this problem, who do not live in fear of men, and who are not sexualised at every turn.'Producer: Adele Armstrong

David Goodhart reflects on group identities in the aftermath of the Sewell report and argues that the mere existence of a difference is not evidence of unfairness.He calls for a more nuanced understanding of group difference and the challenges this poses in an egalitarian age. Producer: Adele Armstrong

'While self-righteousness loosens the tongues of fools,' writes Howard Jacobson, 'self-censorship ties the tongues of the wise.’Howard argues that it's not autocracy that has bedevilled us in the past twelve months, it is levity. Producer: Adele Armstrong

Michael Morpurgo reflects on meeting the Duke of Edinburgh when he was 16 and the indirect effect that meeting had in shaping his views later in life. 'He realised', writes Michael, 'that investing in our young people is the most important investment we can make as a society' .He says the Duke's passion for helping young people will be needed more than ever in the difficult months ahead, as we come out of the pandemic. Producer: Adele Armstrong

"The K beater, the whisk and the dough hook are rattling around in the bowl, and I am tasting butterscotch Angel Delight on my lips." Rebecca Stott relives memories of her 1970s childhood with one kitchen device taking centre stage. And she sees a lesson for today.Producer: Adele Armstrong(This episode was previously broadcast on the 9th October 2020.)

Adam Gopnik on the intricacies of the generation gap. It's highlighted, Adam argues, by what he calls the ‘Florida Phone Call’ - the call you get from your children ‘announcing that not only are you no longer fully competent to grasp contemporary life and its technology...but there is no longer any chance that you will grasp contemporary life and its technology!’ Producer: Adele Armstrong

Sara Wheeler explains why online packages arriving at her house are now addressed to 'The Right Reverend Sara Wheeler'!Sara looks back at the surprising history of the Mrs-Miss distinction and concludes it has no place in contemporary Britain. Producer: Adele Armstrong

'There is a theory,' writes Sarah Dunant, 'that we needed to pull back from too much face-to-face conversation...because we had all got so damn angry with each other.' The past year has certainly put a stop to much conversation, angry or otherwise. Sarah imagines how conversation will be - once we're finally able to talk to each other again, face to face. Producer: Adele Armstrong

'The spell of the cities is now being broken,' writes John Connell. On his family farm in Ireland - where he's returned after many years abroad - John reflects on the new wave of migrants to rural areas and how the pandemic is changing the face of rural communities. Producer: Adele Armstrong

"So far," writes Tom Shakespeare, "the pub has weathered the tides of history and adapted to every change...so far." But Tom argues that, in the aftermath of months of closure, this great British institution is now in peril and we all have a role in saving it. Producer: Adele Armstrong

As a psychotherapist, Susie Orbach spends her working days helping people find words to express their emotional dilemmas. But the seesaw of the pandemic presents particular challenges. "We are not simply able," she writes, "to breathe into a difficult situation, roll up our psychological sleeves or dig ourselves in without the emotional cost of feeling constrained, nervous, watchful, touchy."Producer: Adele Armstrong

Will Self reflects on a year of not travelling on the London underground... and why he's starting to miss it. "On winter days," writes Will, "when it's dark first thing, then twilight, then dark again, the tube achieves its most magical state."And he says that, without the tube, the city seems to have lost its foundations.Producer: Adele Armstrong

As the government announces a tightening of Britain's borders, Zoe Strimpel tries to understand her very personal reaction. "As a Jewish descendent of German Jewish refugees," she writes, "I have felt - for the first time in my life - a sharp edge of panic and fear." Producer: Adele Armstrong

Sarah Dunant finds chilling parallels between recent events in Washington and the Sack of Rome in 1527. "Both seemed to feel," Sarah writes, "that whatever the threat, 'God's Holy City' or 'the seat of American democracy', were somehow, by their very nature, inviolate. I mean nobody would dare, would they?" Powerful first-hand accounts, the crowd fired up by wild stories and the use of new technology are all there. Producer: Adele Armstrong

Rebecca Stott on why stories told over time seem so fitting for lockdown."In this third lockdown," Rebecca writes, "now that my grown up children have gone back to their flats, I am living alone for the first time. I miss our conversations over the dinner table. I miss mulling over the day with them." But, she says, the cumulative power of slow storytelling is a perfect antidote. And, in particular, The Archers! Producer: Adele Armstrong

John Gray argues that the social media bans on Donald Trump pose many risks."The country is already divided between political tribes that hardly speak to one another," he writes. "More than any other advanced country, American has developed a dangerously binary type of public life. " He fears curbing free speech - in the way the tech giants have done with Donald Trump - risks threatening America's very stability. Producer: Adele Armstrong

Adam Gopnik attempts to make sense of events in Washington this week and argues that the attack on Congress was predictable. And he explores "the fascinating mismatch between the cult leader and the cult". Producer: Adele Armstrong

Adam Gopnik, cycling around Central Park in New York, explains why going round in circles suddenly appears not futile, but fortunate. In the midst of the pandemic, Adam - like thousands of other New Yorkers - has taken to cycling round the park on a daily basis."The truth, revealed at the end of one more revolution is simple," he writes. "We feel lucky to be alive. That may be the one truth we didn't know before, or didn't know enough."Producer: Adele Armstrong