Things Ain't What They Used To Be

David Aaronovitch examines the persistent popularity of 'declinism' - the idea that individuals and society are not as good as they used to be. Why are we so drawn to this idea? Is it a purely negative and pessimistic view of the world or does it perform a valuable function?

A self-confessed optimist and progressive, David meets people with views very different from his own as he explores some of the most important contemporary forms of declinism - from concern about the collapse of British manufacturing and the impact of materialism on the planet to unease about immigration and calls for a return to Victorian economic values.

The programme features interviews with ...

Edith Hall, Professor of Classics at Kings College, London

Jeremy Seabrook, author of many books including 'What Went Wrong

Steven Pinker, Harvard Professor of Psychology and author of 'The Better Angels of Our Nature

Professor Jim Tomlinson, economic historian at Dundee University

Maria Glot, Salt Walks tour guide in Saltaire Village, Yorkshire

Kevin Dowd, academic economist and author of 'Alchemists of Loss: How Modern Finance and Government Intervention Crashed the Financial System

Lord Glasman, Labour peer

Jean Twenge, Professor of Psychology at San Diego State University and co-author of The Narcissism Epidemic

Iain McGilchrist, psychiatrist and author of 'The Master and His Emissary

Dan Gardner, author of 'Future Babble'.

David Aaronovitch investigates 'declinism' - the idea that human society is in decline.