Start the Week

Stephanie Flanders discusses social mobility with the author Zadie Smith; the Conservative Minister David Willetts; the author and columnist Owen Jones; and the social historian David Kynaston.

Jonathan Freedland talks to the authors Hari Kunzru, Jane Rogers and James Robertson about their contrasting dystopian visions; and the photographer Adam Broomberg asks how far images of war capture the truth.

Anne McElvoy discusses Russia with Fiona Hill, Vladislav Zubok, Oliver Bullough and Rachel Polonsky.

Allan Little grapples with particle physics, metaphysics, and genes, cells and brains with physicists Jon Butterworth and Jim Baggott; the sociologist Hilary Rose; and the world-renowned stem cell scientist Stephen Minger.

Emily Maitlis discusses the digital future with Google head Eric Schmidt; data journalist James Ball; curator Honor Harger; and risk expert David Spiegelhalter.

Anne McElvoy explores movements and people that have changed the political landscape with the MP Jesse Norman; the historian Lady Antonia Fraser; and one of the co-founders of the Occupy movement, David Graeber.

Jonathan Freedland talks to director Carrie Cracknell; the pianist Jonathan Biss; the psychiatrist Tom Burns; and the psychologist Richard Bentall.

Start the Week is at the Brighton Festival. Stephanie Flanders talks to the writer and Guest Festival Director this year, Michael Rosen; the writer and traveller Jay Griffiths; co-founder of interactive theatre group Blast Theory, Matt Adams; and the artist Mariele Neudecker.

Lisa Jardine talks to the artist Gavin Turk; the rare book dealer & author Rick Gekoski; the curator of the Pompeii & Herculaneum exhibition at the British Museum, Paul Roberts; and the playwright Tanya Ronder.

Tom Sutcliffe looks at the cultural history of Italy with the world renowned film director, Bernardo Bertolucci; the journalist and film-maker Annalisa Piras; the English born conductor with Italian roots, Antonio Pappano; and the Italophile Tim Parks.

Jonathan Freedland talks to Adam Rutherford, Barbara Sahakian, Steve Jones and Susan Aldworth about life, decision-making and our sense of self.

Stephanie Flanders discusses the notion of 'home' and cultural identity with the novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, director Indhu Rubasingham, journalist David Goodhart and poet Michael Symmons Roberts.

Tom Sutcliffe discusses the 'myth' of progress with the poet and novelist James Lasdun; the classicist Mary Beard; playwright Mark Ravenhill; and the philosopher John Gray.

Allan Little talks to Pakistani novelist, Mohsin Hamid about 'how to get filthy rich in rising Asia'; the playwright, Bruce Norris on his new play, 'The Low Road'; author Katherine Boo on life in the Mumbai slums; and the turbulent times of an English village throughout the 20th century is the subject of Peter Moffat's latest television series.

Lisa Jardine asks whether the writing of history has been dominated by conflict and difference. With historian Sir David Cannadine; journalist and author Ed Vulliamy; writer Aleksandar Hemon; and historian and writer Professor Margaret MacMillan.