Past Present Future
Past Present Future is a bi-weekly History of Ideas podcast with David Runciman, host and creator of Talking Politics, exploring the history of ideas from politics to philosophy, culture to technology. David talks to historians, novelists, scientists and many others about where the most interesting ideas come from, what they mean, and why they matter.
Ideas from the past, questions about the present, shaping the future.
New episodes every Wednesday and Sunday.
- Update frequency
- every 3 days
- Average duration
- 56 minutes
- Episodes
- 235
- Years Active
- 2023 - 2025
Fixing Democracy: Parliamentary Reform
In today’s episode David talks to Hannah White, Director of the Institute for Government, about legislatures in general and the British parliament in particular. Are law-making bodies really being si…
00:59:23 |
Wed 17 Sep 2025
Fixing Democracy: Electoral Reform
For the first episode in a new series about the ideas that could help democracy work better David talks to David Klemperer of the Constitution Society about proportional representation. How did ninet…
00:59:04 |
Sun 14 Sep 2025
Indignity w/Lea Ypi
David talks to Lea Ypi about her new book Indignity: A Life Reimagined, which tells the story of her grandmother’s extraordinary life and in doing so uncovers the hidden history of mid-twentieth-cent…
01:06:48 |
Wed 10 Sep 2025
Dignity and Indignity w/Lea Ypi
Today’s episode is the first in a three-part conversation with philosopher and writer Lea Ypi about the idea of dignity and its role in the history of ideas and in the story of our lives. What is the…
00:59:59 |
Sun 07 Sep 2025
PPF+: More of What You’ve Been Missing!
In today’s episode some more highlights from the PPF+ archive of 35 bonus episodes and counting: here are a few more excerpts we think you might enjoy.
In this episode you’ll hear David talking abou…
01:01:11 |
Wed 03 Sep 2025
Politics on Trial: Hitler vs Weimar
Today’s epic political trial is the one that should have been the end of Adolf Hitler but ended up being the making of him: his treason trial in 1924 for the so-called Beer Hall Putsch. How close did…
01:05:08 |
Sun 31 Aug 2025
Politics on Trial: Easter Rising 1916 w/Fintan O’Toole
Today it’s the first of two episodes with journalist and historian Fintan O’Toole about the trials that followed the 1916 Easter Rising in Ireland. What did the leaders of the rising hope to achieve,…
00:59:09 |
Thu 28 Aug 2025
PPF+: A Taste of What You've Been Missing!
Today’s episode is something a little bit different – it is nearly 18 months since we started PPF+ and there are now 34 bonus episodes waiting for you as soon as you sign up. It costs £5 per month or…
00:55:27 |
Sun 24 Aug 2025
Politics on Trial 100th Anniversary Special: Franz Kafka’s The Trial
Today’s episode in Politics on Trial is about the most famous trial in literature and one that never actually takes place. David talks to writer and literary scholar Ian Ellison about Franz Kafka’s T…
00:59:20 |
Thu 21 Aug 2025
Politics on Trial: Dreyfus vs the Conspiracy Theory
Today in Politics on Trial David tells the tale of the Dreyfus Affair that split France down the middle at the turn of the last century and revealed the grip of a whole host of conspiracy theories. A…
01:06:31 |
Sun 17 Aug 2025
Politics on Trial: Oscar Wilde vs the Philistines
Today’s episode in Politics on Trial is about three trials that took place over two months in the late spring of 1895 that brought about the destruction of Oscar Wilde. Why did Wilde trigger his own …
01:03:23 |
Thu 14 Aug 2025
Now & Then with Robert Saunders: Whatever Happened to Unemployment?
Today’s episode is the first in a new strand with the historian Robert Saunders looking at significant political anniversaries and their meaning for today. Summer 2025 is 70 years since the UK record…
01:04:50 |
Sun 10 Aug 2025
Politics on Trial: Charles Parnell vs the English
For today’s episode in Politics on Trial it’s two trials for the price of one, which between them changed the course of British and Irish history. In 1889 the leading Irish politician Charles Parnell…
00:58:54 |
Thu 07 Aug 2025
Politics on Trial: The Haymarket Eight vs the Police
Today’s political trial is one of the most notorious in American history: eight men charged with and convicted of murder in 1886 for a terrorist outrage that none of them committed. A bomb had been t…
00:57:11 |
Sun 03 Aug 2025
Politics on Trial: John Brown vs Slavery
Today’s great political trial concerns the prosecution and execution of John Brown in 1859 for his raid on Harper’s Ferry in the attempt to free America’s slaves, an event that helped precipitate the…
00:58:23 |
Thu 31 Jul 2025
Politics on Trial: Aaron Burr vs the Constitution
For today’s epic political trial, David talks to American historian and PPF regular Gary Gerstle about the treason trial of Aaron Burr in 1807. Why was Burr not put on trial for killing Alexander Ham…
00:55:25 |
Sun 27 Jul 2025
Politics on Trial: Louis XVI vs the People
Today’s epoch-making political trial concerns the interrogation, conviction and execution of Louis XVI at the heart of the French Revolution in 1792-3. For many at the time and since this event had p…
00:59:29 |
Thu 24 Jul 2025
Politics on Trial: Warren Hastings vs the British Empire
To start our new instalment of episodes about the most consequential political trials in history David explores the trial of the eighteenth century: the impeachment of Warren Hastings that ran in the…
01:03:14 |
Sun 20 Jul 2025
The History of Bad Ideas: Identity
For the final episode in our current series on the history of bad ideas, David talks to philosopher Alexander Douglas about the damage that can be done by the idea of identity. Why is the search for …
01:01:35 |
Thu 17 Jul 2025
The History of Bad Ideas: Behaviourism
In today’s episode of the history of bad ideas, David talks to political philosopher Alan Finlayson about behaviourism, a theory of psychology that has penetrated to the heart of politics. How did we…
01:04:17 |
Sun 13 Jul 2025
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