Arts & Ideas - Weapons, real and symbolic
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How do weapons exert real and symbolic power, both now and in history?
Joining Matthew Sweet in Radio 4's round table discussion programme about ideas are:
The former soldier and politician Tobias Ellwood
The sculptor Hew Locke, whose artworks exploring colonial power have featured weaponry
The Renaissance historian Catherine Fletcher, whose latest book is The Firearm Revolution: From Renaissance Italy to the European Empires
The historian and broadcaster Mark Urban, whose books include Tank and Rifles
and
Hailey Austin, Lecturer in Visual Media and Culture at Abertay University who researches comics and videogames.
Producer: Eliane Glaser
Published on Friday, 1st May 2026.
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