2012 Festival [Free Thinking]

Scientists have now detected distant planets that may contain life. If we are not alone in the Universe, will this fundamentally affect how we understand ourselves and should we prepare for the consequences? Ought we to begin work on a set of truly 'universal' rights or prepare to take arms against the greatest threat to our existence?

Debating how the discovery of alien life will impact our moral and philosophical universe are the best-selling science-fiction writer Stephen Baxter, whose books include the latest Doctor Who novel, the science broadcaster and journalist Sue Nelson, the futurist and neuroscientist Anders Sandberg, and one of our leading space scientists, John Zarnecki, Professor of Space Science at the Open University.

The event is chaired by Night Waves presenter Matthew Sweet and was recorded as part of Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival 2012.

From the 2012 Free Thinking festival, Matthew Sweet chairs a debate on aliens.

A best-selling novelist, essayist and journalist, Amos Oz is frequently cited as a possible candidate to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Oz's work has been published in 41 languages, including Arabic, and he is known as a prominent advocate of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

His books include the semi-autobiographical novel A Tale of Love and Darkness, a portrait of war-torn Jerusalem in the 1950s, and the recent collection of stories Scenes from a Village Life.

The event is chaired by Night Waves presenter Philip Dodd and recorded as part of Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival 2012.

The Free Thinking festival of ideas takes place at The Sage Gateshead Friday 2 - Sunday 4 November and is broadcast for three weeks on Radio 3 from Friday 2 November.

Amos Oz gives a talk on Israel and Palestine at the Radio 3 Free Thinking Festival.

His 2009 novel Brooklyn won the Costa novel of the Year. This month he has published Nora Webster - a novel set in Ireland in the late 1960s which features a cameo appearance from one of his characters in Brooklyn.

In 2012 he published a re-imagining of the life of the Virgin Mary - The Testament of Mary which was turned into a stage play and performed by Fiona Shaw to rave reviews in both London and New York.

As booking opens this week for the 2014 Free Thinking Festival at Sage Gateshead - tonight's Free Thinking gives you a chance to hear the conversation he recorded with Philip Dodd at the 2012 Festival.

Producer: Philippa Ritchie

First broadcast in December 2012.

Irish writer Colm Toibin talks to Philip Dodd at the 2012 Free Thinking festival.

Ian Goldin has been Vice President of the World Bank and advisor to Nelson Mandela. He is now Professor of Globalisation at the University of Oxford and Director of the Oxford Martin School, a new college dedicated to researching the big concerns of the 21st Century, from ageing and poverty to political conflict and technological change.

At Free Thinking, Ian Goldin explores whether globalisation is a force for good, or whether it will be the source of an ever more unequal and unstable world.

Presented by Anne McElvoy.

Producer: Neil Trevithick.

Ian Goldin gives a talk entitled Globalisation and the Future at Free Thinking 2012.

What does it mean to belong today?

Immigration is a highly sensitive and polarising issue that throws up big questions about belonging and identity. Multiculturalism, integration and social division are increasingly part of the political debate. But what impact does immigration have on everyone's sense of national identity?

Debaters include the director of the influential Demos think-tank David Goodhart, Alp Mehmet, who is Vice Chairman of Migration Watch and one of Britain's first ambassadors from an ethnic minority, and the political activist and head of British Future Sunder Katwala.

The event is hosted by Night Waves presenter Philip Dodd, and recorded as part of Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival 2012.

The Free Thinking festival of ideas takes place at The Sage Gateshead Friday 2 - Sunday 4 November and is broadcast for three weeks on Radio 3 from Friday 2 November.

Philip Dodd chairs a debate on immigration at the 2012 Free Thinking festival.

Social Mobility has become the new Holy Grail for politicians, with all three main parties united in their desire to break down social barriers and inequality. It's an emotive topic in Britain, raising issues of class, wealth and education.

But for some people to rise up, do others have to slide down? And does greater openness to talent necessarily make a more equal society?

Tackling the Free Thinking Festival's central theme 'Them and Us' is a panel including Guardian columnist Polly Toynbee, Oxford historian Lawrence Goldman, management consultant Jamie Whyte, and Director of SCHOOLS NorthEast Beccy Earnshaw.

The event is chaired by Night Waves presenter Anne McElvoy and recorded as part of BBC Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival 2012.

The festival of ideas takes place at The Sage Gateshead Friday 2 - Sunday 4 November and is broadcast for three weeks on Radio 3 from Friday 2 November.

Anne McElvoy with a debate for Free Thinking 2012, asking 'Is social mobility overrated?'.

Just how different are the two biggest world religions?

Two leading scholars explore what differentiates Islam from Christianity, and the impact that has on the world today, from their different historical origins to their different versions of God.

With the historian Tom Holland, author of a book on Arabic history In the Shadow of the Sword and presenter of the recent Channel 4 documentary Islam: The Untold Story. And the leading theologian Mona Siddiqui, Professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Edinburgh.

The event is chaired by Night Waves presenter Samira Ahmed and recorded as part of Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival 2012.

The Free Thinking festival of ideas takes place at The Sage Gateshead Friday 2 - Sunday 4 November and is broadcast for three weeks on Radio 3 from Friday 2 November.

From Free Thinking 2012, Tom Holland and Mona Siddiqui discuss Islam and Christianity.

Whether sexuality is genetic or not goes to the heart of the ongoing debate about same-sex marriage. Are gay rights activists right to insist sexuality has biological origins, or is it a lifestyle choice as claimed by some traditionalists?

In a talk titled Not Born This Way, the feminist, lesbian, columnist and writer Julie Bindel challenges liberal thinking by arguing that sexuality is indeed a choice, and that the current scientific quest to identify a gay gene is both pointless and dangerous.

The event is chaired by Night Waves presenter Samira Ahmed and recorded as part of Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival 2012.

The Free Thinking festival of ideas takes place at The Sage Gateshead Friday 2 - Sunday 4 November and is broadcast for three weeks on Radio 3 from Friday 2 November.

Julie Bindel gives a talk arguing that sexuality is a choice at Free Thinking 2012.

The Newcastle born screenwriter and playwright Lee Hall is best known for the hugely successful film and musical Billy Elliot, for which he won a Tony Award and was nominated for an Oscar.

Hall's play The Pitmen Painters, about a group of miners from Ashington in the North East, has been performed throughout the world. He recently updated Alan Plater's 1960s musical drama Close the Coalhouse Door and is now working on a biopic of Elton John.

From a working-class background, much a Hall's work explores the complexities of what class means in the UK. At Free Thinking 2012 Lee Hall discusses class and art, his own life, writing and ideas.

The event is chaired by Night Waves presenter Philip Dodd and recorded as part of Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival 2012.

The Free Thinking festival of ideas takes place at The Sage Gateshead Friday 2 - Sunday 4 November and is broadcast for three weeks on Radio 3 from Friday 2 November.

Philip Dodd presents a special conversation with Lee Hall, writer of Billy Elliot.

In many ways Britain's youth is in crisis, trapped by rising debt and unemployment. And yet youth culture has never been more influential or all-pervasive.

Lindsay Johns argues that we need to stop pandering to young people, and that all too often we tell them only what they want to hear. John's a writer and broadcaster, runs a youth mentoring scheme in South London.

Controversially, he believes we are 'genuflecting at the altar of youth'.

This event was recorded earlier in November at The Sage Gateshead, at Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival. The presenter is Rana Mitter.

Producer: Laura Thomas.

From Free Thinking 2012, Lindsay Johns argues that we should stop listening to the young.

Introducing some of the highlights of the weekend, including another chance to hear from keynote speaker Mary Robinson, the former President of Ireland and UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, who argues that women leaders are best placed to sort out the crises of the 21st Century.

Free Thinking takes place at The Sage Gateshead 2 - 4 November and is broadcast for three weeks on BBC Radio 3 from Friday 2 November.

Matthew Sweet is joined by guests including Radio 3's New Generation Thinkers.

Why have humans evolved to speak so many incomprehensible languages? Why do we work against our own survival by going to war with one another?

Professor Mark Pagel, Head of the Evolution Laboratory at the University of Reading and author of Wired for Culture, argues that despite today's incredible cultural diversity, humanity has been steadily evolving from small tribes to huge nation states.

Are we moving towards a unified world of one language and one state?

The event is chaired by Night Waves presenter Rana Mitter and was recorded as part of Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival 2012.

First broadcast in November 2012.

At Free Thinking 2012, Mark Pagel gives a talk: 'evolution and humanity - what next?'.

Mary Robinson has had a pioneering political career. She was the first female President of Ireland, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and Chair of the Council of Women World Leaders. Now she is a member of The Elders, along with Nelson Mandela and Jimmy Carter, the group of global leaders who campaign together for peace and human rights, and is President of the Mary Robinson Foundation - Climate Justice, a centre dedicated to helping marginalised victims of climate change.

Mary Robinson's talk about women leaders was recorded earlier tonight in front of an audience at The Sage Gateshead and presented by Matthew Sweet. It marks the start of three weeks of Free Thinking broadcasts on BBC Radio 3.

This year's festival theme is 'Them and Us': exploring whether the world is becoming a more divided place, discussing social inequality, difference and how we define ourselves in relation to others.

Speakers include Michael Igatieff, Lee Hall, Philippa Gregory, Antony Beevor, Amos Oz, Tom Holland, Mona Siddiqui, Jeremy Bowen, Julie Bindel, Tony Harrison, Polly Toynbee, Colm Toibin and Andrew Marr.

Plus new drama by Simon Armitage about Olympic torchbearers to be broadcast live from the Baltic.

Now in its seventh year, the Free Thinking Festival of ideas takes place at The Sage Gateshead 2-4 November and is produced and broadcast by BBC Radio 3. It's a platform for today's innovative thinkers, who debate the ideas shaping our world.

Go to www.BBC.co.uk/freethinking for more details.

Mary Robinson with the first lecture of Free Thinking 2012, on the topic of women leaders.

After a high-profile career in the UK as a broadcaster, law academic and Booker shortlisted author, Michael Ignatieff returned to Canada to become a politician, leading the Canadian Opposition in the 2011 election and losing dramatically to Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

Ignatieff's Free Thinking talk is titled 'Them and Us: Enemies and Adversaries in Politics'. Addressing this year's central festival theme 'Them and Us', he blames excessive partisanship for the public's dislike of politics. Why is political competition so vicious when party differences are so small?

Michael Ignatieff reveals what he believes needs to be done to restore faith in politics.

The event is chaired by Night Waves presenter Matthew Sweet.

BBC Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival takes place at The Sage Gateshead 2 - 4 November and is broadcast for three weeks on Radio 3 from Friday 2 November.

Producer: Natalie Steed.

Michael Ignatieff gives a talk on enemies in politics at the 2012 Free Thinking Festival.

Philippa Gregory's fiction turns the spotlight on the lives of women at significant moments in history. Her Tudor series of novels includes The Other Boleyn Girl, which became a Hollywood film, and her most recent collection is set during the War of the Roses, England's epic power struggle between the Houses of Lancaster and York. BBC1 have now turned these novels into a major drama series The White Queen.

In an event recorded at Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival at The Sage Gateshead in November 2012 in front of a live audience, Philippa Gregory reveals why she went from academia to fiction, how her approach to Tudor characters such as Thomas Cromwell differs from other historial novelists such as Hilary Mantel, whose Wolf Hall won the Man Booker prize, and why she can't help interfering with drama scripts of her novels.

First broadcast in December 2012.

Novelist Philippa Gregory talks to Rana Mitter at the 2012 Free Thinking festival.

What kind of societies will the Arab Spring give birth to? Democratic, Capitalist, Islamic, or Unstable?

The revolutions sweeping the Arab World have led to the introduction of democratic rule in some countries. But is a new kind of non-western democracy emerging, and what are the implications for our world?

Jeremy Bowen is the BBC's Middle East Editor and author of The Arab Uprisings, and Tarek Osman is an Egyptian political economist and author of Egypt on the Brink.

The event is chaired by Night Waves presenter Samira Ahmed and recorded as part of Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival 2012.

The Free Thinking festival of ideas takes place at The Sage Gateshead Friday 2 - Sunday 4 November and is broadcast for three weeks on Radio 3 from Friday 2 November.

Jeremy Bowen and Tarek Osman discuss the Arab Spring at the 2012 Free Thinking festival.

Does World History really still mean Western History, or do we need a radical new understanding of the past?

Antony Beevor is our leading military historian and author of the best-selling history books The Second World War and Stalingrad. Andrew Marr's landmark series A New History of the World aired on BBC1 last year, and he has published the book A History of the World. And Maria Misra is Fellow in Modern History at the University of Oxford and author of Vishnu's Corwded Temple, India since the Great Rebellion.

The event is hosted by Chinese History expert and Radio 3's Night Waves presenter Rana Mitter, and was recorded as part of Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival 2012.

First broadcast in November 2012.

From the 2012 Free Thinking Festival, Rana Mitter chairs a debate about world history.

Vicky is the founding Artistic Director and Chief Executive of the National Theatre of Scotland, whose award-winning productions include Black Watch, based on the testimonies of British soldiers in Iraq, and Enquirer, a timely examination of the media.

She is about to become the new Artistic Director of the Royal Court Theatre in London.

As Scotland heads towards a referendum on independence, Vicky Featherstone discusses the role of a modern day national theatre in shaping and capturing national identity and history.

The event is hosted by Night Waves presenter Anne McElvoy, and recorded as part of Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival 2012.

The Free Thinking festival of ideas takes place at The Sage Gateshead Friday 2 - Sunday 4 November and is broadcast for three weeks on Radio 3 from Friday 2 November.

Vicky Featherstone gives a talk on the idea of a national theatre at Free Thinking 2012.