A Point Of View

Will Self deplores the arms trade and Britain's role in it, including the sale of weapons to authoritarian regimes which abuse human rights. He takes aim at the euphemisms that surround the sector. "The elision of business-speak with the foggy verbiage of warfare is perhaps the most deranging aspect of the contemporary arms trade," he says. Producer: Sheila Cook.

Will Self reflects that racism is rarely a sole cause of social injustice but alongside other problems such as poverty it can limit people's social mobility. "All too often pundits and policymakers seek a single cause for social stratification when they should accept that in a nation where inequality in real, monetary terms is increasing....the reasons for being at the bottom of the heap are manifold. It's not a case of class or family or education or money or race, it's a matter of of class, family, education, money AND race." Producer: Sheila Cook Presenter Will Self.

Will Self praises the beauty of wind turbines and says protests against them spring from a misconceived idyllic view of our already man-made landscape. "It would seem to me that most of those who energetically campaign against the planting of wind farms in their bosky vale do so not out of a profound appreciation of the dew-jewelled web of life, but merely as spectators who wish the show that they've paid admission for to go as advertised." Producer: Sheila Cook.

Will Self sees an urgent need to reform the prison system and deplores what he sees as a lack of political will to tackle its present failings. "Not only does prison, for the vast majority of those who endure it not work - either as punishment or as rehabilitation - but there is no escaping the conclusion that it functions as a stimulant to crime, rather than its bromide".Producer: Sheila Cook.

Will Self attacks the people who join political parties as "donkeys led by donkeys". He criticises the spectacle of the party conferences, a parade of "endlessly biddable Dobbins" displaying "a mental passivity that makes the average X-factor audience look like the participants in one of Plato's symposia." He argues that members repeatedly see their principles betrayed by the actions of the leaders of their parties who are continually fighting over the same patch of turf, "butting and biting the other herds". Producer: Sheila Cook.

"For a couple of days in May 1940, the fate of the world turned on the fall of a leaf" says John Gray. He outlines the strange conjunction of events - and the work of chance - that led to Churchill becoming Prime Minister.He muses on how Churchill was found by one of his advisers around one o'clock on the morning of May 9th "brooding alone in one of his clubs". He was given a crucial bit of advice which may have secured him the job. What would have happened Gray wonders if he hadn't been found and that advice - to say nothing! - not been passed on?He also ponders whether it was it Churchill's recurring melancholy which made for his greatness? "It's hard to resist the thought that the dark view of the world that came on Churchill in his moods of desolation enabled him to see what others could not"."Churchill had not one life but several" says Gray. Without them all, "history would have been very different, and the world darker than anything we can easily imagine".Producer: Adele Armstrong.

John Gray argues that the scientific and rationalist attack on religion is misguided. Extreme atheists do not realise that for most people across the globe, religion is not generally about personal belief. Instead, "Practice - ritual, meditation, a way of life - is what counts." Central to religion is the power of myth, which still speaks to the contemporary mind. "The idea that science can enable us to live without myths is one of these silly modern stories." In fact, he argues, science has created its own myth, "chief among them the myth of salvation through science....The idea that humans will rise from the dead may be incredible" he says, "but no more so than the notion that humanity can use science to remake the world" Producer: Adele Armstrong.

John Gray considers why the human animal needs contact with something other than itself.He tells the story of an eminent philosopher who once told him that he'd persuaded his cat to become a vegan! An effort, it seems, to get the cat to share his values. But Gray argues that there's no evolutionary hierarchy with humans at the top."What birds and animals offer us", he says, "is not confirmation of our sense of having an exalted place in some sort of cosmic hierarchy. It's admission into a larger scheme of things, where our minds are no longer turned in on themselves".He concludes that "by giving us the freedom to see the world afresh, birds and animals renew our humanity".Producer: Adele Armstrong.

The author and philosopher John Gray presents a hard-hitting talk about capitalism. He argues that one side-effect of the financial crisis is an increasing number of people who believe that Karl Marx was right. He outlines why Marx's belief that capitalism would lead to revolution - and end bourgeois life - has come true. But not in the way Marx imagined. For increasing numbers of people, he says, a middle class existence is no longer even an aspiration. "More and more people live from day to day with little idea of what the future will bring". "It's wasn't communism that did the deed" he says. "It's capitalism that has killed off the bourgeoisie". Producer: Adele Armstrong.

As recently discovered letters from Kim Philby are published, John Gray argues that the spy's life illustrates why we are so poor at predicting the future. Where Philby saw a bright future in Soviet Communism - one that led him to betray friends and colleagues - many in the West hoped for a different utopia in Russia as Communism collapsed. Neither saw their dreams realised. As John Gray observes, both groups "failed to understand that the only genuine historical law is the law of irony."Producer: Adele Armstrong.

The celebrated thinker John Gray gives his reflection on the meaning of folly. Taking the myth of the Trojan horse as his starting point, he explores what he sees as the modern day folly unfolding in Europe. He calls on European leaders to reconsider the single European currency - a project he says was always doomed to fail. Producer: Adele Armstrong.

Alain de Botton on why pessimism is the key to happiness. He argues that the incompatibility between the grandeur of our aspirations and the reality of life is bound to disappoint - unless we learn to be a bit more gloomy!Producer: Adele Armstrong.

Alain de Botton takes a witty look at modern parenting. He explains why today's parent simply can't avoid baking biscuits and helping to paint Tyrannosaurus Rex's scales! Producer: Adele Armstrong.

Alain de Botton reflects on social climbing - and argues that the activity should be seen - at times - as evidence of a natural curiosity about the modern world. And he says in the current environment, it's often not idle pleasure-seeking, but an attempt to keep yourself in a job. Producer: Adele Armstrong.

Alain de Botton on our high expectations for modern marriage. He argues that expecting one person to be a good partner, lover and parent is - almost - asking the impossible. And he shows how different it all was before the mid eighteenth century...Producer: Adele Armstrong.

Alain de Botton on why preparing conversation is as important as preparing a good salad for our summer picnic. He questions why we put so much effort into our social encounters, but leave our conversation to chance. With examples from history and literature, he argues that it's when there are rules to our conversation that our spirit can best be set free. Producer: Adele Armstrong.

Following the birth of a baby moose in Whipsnade zoo - a rare event - Alain de Botton muses on the value of exotic animals in helping to give us perspective on our own lives. He explains why he's rediscovered wild animals and suggests a zoo trip as a perfect summer outing! Producer: Adele Armstrong.

Alain de Botton muses on why a bookish life is a poor preparation for marriage! He says Western literature's obsession with unrequited love means the average love story is of help only to the lovelorn. And he argues that the blandness of the word marriage hides a "welter of intensity and depth that put to shame the most passionate works of literature". Producer: Adele Armstrong.

Alain de Botton asks why the idea of a nanny state is so unappealing. He says complete freedom - left totally to our own devices - is rarely what we want. He says there's a lot to be said for the odd paternalistic nudge in the right direction. Producer: Adele Armstrong.

Alain de Botton explores the notion that museums are our new churches. But museums - he says - have a lot to learn from churches about getting their message across. He appeals for a complete revamp of some of our favourite museums. Producer: Adele Armstrong.