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
Ideas of Globalisation: Chamberlain and the Tariff Wars (and Trump!)
Today we explore the explosive fight over tariffs that took place in Britain in the first decade of the twentieth century. David talks to historian Robert Saunders about how Joseph Chamberlain made t…
00:57:06 |
Thu 01 May 2025
Ideas of Globalisation: Trade, Race and Empire (and Trump!)
We start a new mini-series on the history of ideas of globalisation by exploring how arguments from 150 years ago foreshadow what’s happening with Trump today. David talks to economic historian Marc …
00:59:08 |
Sun 27 Apr 2025
The History of Revolutionary Ideas: Lenin and Trotsky
To conclude this part of our revolutionary ideas series, we explore the overlapping lives and thinking of two emblematic twentieth-century revolutionaries: Lenin and Trotsky. David talks to historian…
00:55:24 |
Thu 24 Apr 2025
PPF Live Special: Churchill – The Politician With Nine Lives w/Robert Saunders
Today’s episode is the second of our two recent live recordings of PPF, this one in front of an audience at the Bath Curious Minds Festival. David talks to historian Robert Saunders about the life of…
01:02:37 |
Sun 20 Apr 2025
The History of Revolutionary Ideas: The Rite of Spring w/Dominic Dromgoole
Our third Parisian revolution is another explosive night in the theatre, this time in the world of dance. David talks to Dominic Dromgoole about Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, which provoked absolu…
00:45:53 |
Thu 17 Apr 2025
The History of Revolutionary Ideas: Ubu Roi w/Dominic Dromgoole
Today’s Parisian revolution is a theatrical performance that produced a riot. David talks to theatre director Dominic Dromgoole about Alfred Jarry’s Ubu Roi (1896), which only ran for a couple of nig…
00:45:01 |
Tue 15 Apr 2025
The History of Revolutionary Ideas: Salon Des Refusés w/Dominic Dromgoole
Today’s episode is the first of three this week with the theatre director and writer Dominic Dromgoole, exploring revolutionary events in the world of art and theatre, starting with the opening of th…
00:41:44 |
Sun 13 Apr 2025
The History of Revolutionary Ideas: Marx and the Paris Commune
Today the first of four episodes about Parisian revolutions. We start with the definitive nineteenth-century revolutionary and his definitive revolution: David talks to historian Bruno Leipold about …
00:55:24 |
Thu 10 Apr 2025
The History of Revolutionary Ideas: Free Speech
Today’s revolutionary idea is one with a long history, not all of it revolutionary: David talks to the historian Fara Dabhoiwala about the idea of free speech. When did free speech first get articula…
01:02:38 |
Sun 06 Apr 2025
PPF Live Film Special: Network w/Helen Lewis
We take a brief break from revolutionary ideas for a special live episode of PPF recorded in front of an audience at the Regent Street Cinema in London. David talks to writer and journalist Helen Lew…
01:05:00 |
Thu 03 Apr 2025
The History of Revolutionary Ideas: Darwin w/Adam Rutherford
David talks to geneticist and science writer Adam Rutherford about the book that fundamentally altered our understanding of just about everything: Darwin’s On The Origin of Species (1859). What made …
00:53:38 |
Sun 30 Mar 2025
The History of Revolutionary Ideas: The Taiping Revolution
Today’s revolutionary ideas come from China: David talks to historian Julia Lovell about the Taiping Revolution, another massive mid-19th-century upheaval that nearly overturned the established order…
01:05:48 |
Thu 27 Mar 2025
The History of Revolutionary Ideas: 1848: The Radical Revolution w/Chris Clark
In our second of three episodes on the revolutions that swept through Europe in 1848 David and Chris Clark explore the forces demanding radical change. What was ‘the Social Question’ and who was aski…
00:52:30 |
Sun 23 Mar 2025
The History of Revolutionary Ideas: 1848: The Liberal Revolution w/Chris Clark
In the first of three episodes about the revolutions that swept through Europe in 1848 David is joined by historian Chris Clark to explore the ideas behind this continental upheaval. We start with th…
00:55:55 |
Thu 20 Mar 2025
The History of Revolutionary Ideas: The Bayesian Revolution w/David Spiegelhalter
Today’s revolutionary idea is something a bit different: David talks to statistician David Spiegelhalter about how an eighteenth-century theory of probability emerged from relative obscurity in the t…
01:00:36 |
Sun 16 Mar 2025
The History of Revolutionary Ideas: Slave Uprising: The Haitian Revolution
Today’s episode is about a very different revolution from any we’ve discussed so far: David talks to historian Hank Gonzalez about the Haitian Revolution, which for the first time in history saw a sl…
00:57:01 |
Thu 13 Mar 2025
The History of Revolutionary Ideas: French Revolution 3: Paine
For our third episode on the ideas behind the French Revolution, David talks to Richard Whatmore about the ubiquitous Thomas Paine, the Englishman who championed revolutionary politics around the wor…
00:58:25 |
Sun 09 Mar 2025
The History of Revolutionary Ideas: French Revolution 2: Robespierre
For our second episode on the people and ideas behind the French Revolution David talks to historian and biographer Ruth Scurr about the man who came to embody the revolution in all its radicalism an…
00:53:35 |
Thu 06 Mar 2025
The History of Revolutionary Ideas: French Revolution 1: Sieyès
In the first of three episodes about the people and ideas behind the French Revolution, David talks to Lucia Rubinelli about the man who helped kickstart it all: the Abbé Sieyès. How did an obscure c…
00:57:35 |
Sun 02 Mar 2025
The History of Revolutionary Ideas: American Revolution 2: The Constitution
In the second of our two episodes about the American Revolution David talks to historian Eric Nelson about the ideas that shaped the US Constitution. Was the office of President a victory for the peo…
01:03:53 |
Thu 27 Feb 2025
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