In today’s PPF+ bonus episode David explores what makes George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four utterly different from and yet eerily similar to Brave New World. How did Orwell imagine that the world of Big Brother could come about so soon? What is the book saying about the relationship between past, present and future? Why does a book that is so flawed still haunt everyone who reads it? Where does the real terror lie?

In the second part of their conversation David and Sarah O'Connor go deeper into the question of what happens when supposedly intelligent machines start to do the work traditionally reserved for humans. Who decides on the division of labour? Who takes responsibility when things go wrong? Is human creativity going to save us or is it the thing most directly under threat? And where does politics come into the equation?

Today’s PPF+ bonus episode is the second part of David’s conversation with Helen Thompson about Peter Mandelson and the history of New Labour taking the story from 2008 to the present – with a whole new set of betrayals along the way. What did Mandelson get right and what did he get wrong about how to restore Labour’s fortunes? What future if any is left for Keir Starmer after the latest revelations about his dealings with Mandelson? And if this is the end of New Labour, what comes next?

Today’s PPF+ bonus episode is the fourth and final part of our series on George Orwell and WW2 exploring how he tried to make sense of the war as it came to an end. What caused Orwell to be more disturbed by American racism than fascist racism? Why did he fear that the outcome of the war would simply be a peace that was no peace? How did he get the result of the 1945 election so wrong? And where in his idea of a coming ‘cold war’ did the nightmare of 1984 reside?

In this PPF+ bonus episode David talks about an event that still exerts a firm grip on British political imaginations. For many politicians – above all Labour politicians – the 1945 general election remains the model for what it is possible to achieve against the odds. But does the reality match up to the myth? Did Labour actually buck the odds? Was it a vote for change or was it a vote for more of the same? Why is it so hard for lightning to strike twice? And what does 1945 suggest about the choices facing Labour today?

This bonus episode to accompany our series with Luke Kemp about how societies collapse and how they can recover explores his own story to explain how he came to think the way he does. When did he start to think about the end of the world? What made him conclude that early human societies could help make sense of our present and our future? How have his views changed and where does he think hope comes from?