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Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

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The ideas shaping our lives today - with leading artists and thinkers in extended interview and debate.

Matthew Sweet

Danny Dorling

Lionel Shriver

Stephen Emmott

Craig Templeton Smith

Free Thinking: Festival 2018 - The One and the Many: Episode 3: The Population Bomb

The Population Bomb

Episode 3

Episode 3: The Population Bomb

Festival 2018 - The One and the Many

BBC Radio 4 - Free Thinking, Festival 2018 - The One and the Many, The Population Bomb

Danny Dorling, Lionel Shriver and Stephen Emmott debate with Matthew Sweet.

The Population Bomb: Danny Dorling and Stephen Emmott join Lionel Shriver to look at the warnings of a 1968 book and whether we should heed its view of an overpopulated planet.

The geographer Danny Dorling; Lionel Shriver, the author and patron of Population Matters; and Stephen Emmott, author of 10 Billion, join Matthew Sweet and an audience at Sage Gateshead to debate whether we should have fewer children. 

In 1968 a Stanford university professor, Dr Paul E. Ehrlich, published The Population Bomb. This call to arms became a global bestseller, influenced public policy and made its author a celebrity. It predicted mass starvation in the US and an England underwater by the year 2000. It also suggested adding 'temporary sterilants' to the water supply as a way to stem the ensuing crisis. For decades it has come under fire for its alarmist tone and laughable foresight but with global population set to hit ten billion by 2050, will Ehrlich eventually be proved right? 

Danny Dorling is Professor of Geography at Oxford University and the author of Population 10 Billion. His research focuses on housing, health, employment, education and poverty. His recent books include Do We Need Economic Inequality? The Equality Effect, and he co-wrote Why Demography Matters.

Lionel Shriver's novels include The Standing Chandelier, The Mandibles, and the award-winning We Need to Talk About Kevin. Lionel is a regular columnist at The Spectator and has written for numerous other publications including for The Wall Street Journal, New Statesman, and The Economist. She is a patron of Population Matters.

Stephen Emmott is the author of Ten Billion, which he performed as a drama at the Royal Court Theatre. He is a Professor at Cambridge. His work develops new computational methods and ways of thinking about complex living systems. 

Producer: Craig Templeton Smith.

Free Thinking: Festival 2018 - The One and the Many

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

Free Thinking festival talks and discussions on the theme of The One and the Many

Free Thinking festival talks and discussions from Sage Gateshead on the theme of The One and the Many

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