Andrey Kurkov is Ukraine’s most celebrated novelist. When Russia invaded Ukraine he turned his writing to journalism and memoir, but his latest book is a work of fiction set amid the chaos of the Russian Revolution. The Silver Bone (translated by Boris Dralyuk) is the first in a trilogy of historical mysteries in which the recently orphaned detective investigates his first case while Bolsheviks, Cossacks, and white Army Guards all vie to take control of Kyiv.
The journalist and writer Peter Pomerantsev retells the daring story of the WWII propogandist Sefton Delmer who managed to infiltrate German airwaves and skilfully question Nazi doctrine. How to Win an Information War reveals the extent of the complexity of spin and indoctrination used in the past, alongside the role of propaganda today in Putin’s Russia.
The information war is heading into a new era with the development of generative AI which makes it simple to produce fake text, audio and videos. The news editor at MIT Technology Review Charlotte Jee says the pace of change is extraordinary, and regulation is lagging behind, as deepfakes are becoming more difficult to distinguish from actual human content.
Producer: Katy Hickman
Daniel Kahneman on 'noisy' human judgement
The opioid crisis and erosion of trust
Art - plunder, power and prestige
Personal faith and the Church
What if the Incas had colonised Europe?
Nuclear destruction
Defining mental illness
Trade deals and human rights – in Africa and China
Newton: science and worldly riches
Rights and responsibilities
Understanding Melancholy
Monsters of the deep
Family struggles - from Greek tragedy to The Troubles
Living online and IRL
Empire and class, shaping Britain
The fall of Maxwell – the end of an era.
Mariana Mazzucato on moonshot economics
Francis Bacon revealed
Scotland and the Union
Nicholas Hytner
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