Andrew Marr discusses the life and work of the writer Vasily Grossman in a special programme recorded at an event in Oxford to celebrate his greatest novel, Life and Fate. Grossman was a Ukrainian Jew who spent most of WWII reporting on the front line with a humanity and attention to detail that defied the Soviet censors. His masterpiece, Life and Fate, pitted communism against fascism but came down on the side of human kindness. Start the Week looks at the legacy of a writer who is largely ignored in his own country, and asks how Grossman's depiction of the war compares to the authorised version in Russia today. Andrew talks to the historian Antony Beevor, the writers Andrey Kurkov and Linda Grant.
More or Less: Behind the Stats - Government waste
In More or Less this week: Government waste, a logic puzzle, the statistics of spying, Olympic economics and the Janitor problem.
More or Less: Behind the Stats - A Euro Debt Odyssey
In this week's More or Less: a Euro debt odyssey, the placebo effect and 70 years of social surveys.
More or Less: Behind the Stats - Scottish Independence
On this week's More or Less: Scottish independence, mobile phones and cancer, and is Tendulkar the greatest sportsman?
More or Less: Behind the Stats - Is salt bad for you?
More or Less has the latest on salt, 'zero tolerance' policing, and how to predict the adult height of growing children.
More or Less: Behind the Stats - The maths of rioting
In More or Less this week: riots, debt, disability benefit and when to buy a lotto ticket.
More or Less: Behind the Stats - US debt
Tim Harford and the More or Less team unpick more numbers in the news. This week: US debt, NHS funding and the "27 club".
Start the Week - 04/07/2011
Andrew Marr talks to the science fiction writer China Mieville, whose latest planetary creation explores the links between language and thought, and asks what it means to have no concept of lying. AN Wilson explores a world closer to home, but no less alien, medieval Florence, as he tries to uncover the life and work of Dante. Jonathan Bates' play, Being Shakespeare also attempts to bring to life the work of the Bard and the real man behind the legend, by placing him in his historical context. And the prize-winning poet Jo Shapcott argues for the transformative nature of poetry. Producer: Katy Hickman.
Start the Week - 04/07/2011
Andrew Marr talks to the science fiction writer China Mieville, whose latest planetary creation explores the links between language and thought, and asks what it means to have no concept of lying. AN Wilson explores a world closer to home, but no less alien, medieval Florence, as he tries to uncover the life and work of Dante. Jonathan Bates' play, Being Shakespeare also attempts to bring to life the work of the Bard and the real man behind the legend, by placing him in his historical context. And the prize-winning poet Jo Shapcott argues for the transformative nature of poetry. Producer: Katy Hickman.
Start the Week - 27/06/2011
Andrew Marr explores the limits of science and art in this week's Start the Week. The philosopher and neuroscientist Raymond Tallis mounts an all-out assault on those who see neuroscience and evolutionary theory as holding the key to understanding human consciousness and society. While fellow scientist Barbara Sahakian explores the ethical dilemmas which arise when new drugs developed to treat certain conditions are used to enhance performance in the general population. And the gerontologist Aubrey de Grey looks to the future when regenerative medicine prevents the process of aging. Producer: Katy Hickman.