A Point of View

"No matter how many times you see the sun rise", writes Will Self, "it doesn't mean it will definitely rise tomorrow - or, indeed, that you'll be there to see it". Will sets out why he has a problem with theory of all sorts and the negative effect “theory addicts” are having on our contemporary intellectual culture. Producer: Adele Armstrong

"Christianity has a lot to answer for," writes Will Self, "when it comes to our estrangement from our bodies - making our evacuations, quite as much as our sexual acts - an anathema in polite society". Will argues that our infantilism in this regard detracts from our engagement with the world. Producer: Adele Armstrong

"That culture can be - and is - being commoditised in the private sector, is a truth universally acknowledged with every ticket and book sale," writes Will Self. But, he argues, the conflating of cultural and financial value has now spread well beyond the private realm. The National Lottery is head of his blame list. "I think of the National Lottery as a sort of reverse Midas-touch, turning everything gold it finances to....rubbish." Producer: Adele Armstrong

"It's well within living memory," writes Sarah Dunant, "that tourism and travel was a wondrous thing." But times have changed: "It feels as if every unnecessary journey we make now has the dull drumbeat of global fragility and climate change in the background." Sarah ponders where foreign travel goes from here. Producer: Adele Armstrong

"Could it be that the only way out at this point is a no deal Brexit of the kind that so many dread?" asks John Gray. He argues that it is the logical conclusion of present events. Producer: Adele Armstrong