Hello, this is David Rundsenman and I want to tell you about my new podcast.

It starts next week and it's called Past, Present Future. It's a podcast of ideas and it's about the

history of the most interesting ideas, from politics to philosophy, from science to fiction.

Our first episode comes out next Thursday, the 27th of April,

and it's with the novelist Ian McEwan, who tells me about his favourite work of political fiction.

It's a book that explains a great deal about democracy.

So really, almost immediately you're taking into the heart of who votes and who doesn't vote.

Who's capable, who isn't capable.

And it's right at the heart, as it were, in this very short novel of the political process,

which is why for the last 40 years I've been pressing it on people, film directors, friends who love fiction, people who want to make a special case for the novella, to say this is one of the most extraordinary and brilliant political novels.

The following week, I'm going to be talking to Helen Thompson about the TV show Dallas that dominated the world in the 70s and 80s, but turns out to be about a much more than just who shot JR.

So there's a really ongoing theme through Dallas. It runs all the way through the show, is that the land at South Fork is sacred.

And if oil touches that, then something really destructive has happened.

And that is a taboo that can't be crossed. And JR is constantly pushing against that taboo.

Past, present, future is also going to have every month one episode in the history of ideas stream,

in which I talk about thinkers and ideas from the past.

And I'm going to be starting with Montaigne,

the man who reimagined not just what it means to be human,

but the possibilities of a political life.

To get those episodes, to hear Helen Thompson, to hear Ian McEwen,

and everything else,

please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, and follow us on Twitter at PPF Ideas.

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