Welcome back to the home of the oxymoron. Evil genius. He asked the newspaper to print his obituary early so he'd enjoy it. That's like hiding at your own funeral. Yeah, a big, great gig. I'm Russell Kane. Join me to weigh in on whether the biggest players in history are more evil or genius. Becoming that rich, I'd say that is some level of genius. It also helps that it's a long time ago, right?

It's like the podcast version of telling your kids the ice cream van plays music when it's out of ice cream.

Listen to Evil Genius on BBC Sounds.

Hello, I'm Anne McHawoy.

Welcome to BBC Radio 3's Arts and Ideas discussion program, bringing together leading artists, writers and thinkers in conversation and debate.

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this is the BBC hello learning a new language they say is like learning to see the world in a new

light so why is language learning in Britain collapsing and how do you square this with our appetite

for books in translation?

We'll delve into the monoglot condition a bit later on.

First, though, a view from the front line.

Language is the skin on my thought.

I'm not just talking about self-expression.

I'm talking about what is included in society.

And if language doesn't include everybody, then it's a sad thing.

I mean, people have asked me, you know,

why don't you write in your mother tongue?

And I wonder, what is my mother tongue?

Arundati Roy there, and we'll be hearing her thoughts about translation and its centrality in her life and work later.

But we begin with another Indian novelist, Mina Kandasami.

Mina's book, When I Hit You, is on the shortlist for this year's Women's Prize for Fiction.

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