Today’s bonus is the second part of David’s conversation with historian Edward Acton about the men who made the Russian revolution. How did Lenin and Trotsky disagree about ending the First World War and who won the argument? What happened to Trotsky’s idea of ‘permanent revolution’? And what might have happened if Trotsky not Stalin had succeeded Lenin?

For today’s bonus episode on PPF+ David explores Filippo Marinetti’s Futurist Manifesto (1909), a short document with a remarkable afterlife. From Vorticism to fascism, from cars to cod liver oil, from the madness of pre-WWI Europe to the craziness of Silicon Valley today: how did one man’s version of the future shape so many futures to come? Was Marinetti a joker or was he serious? Was this a vision for Italy or for the entire world?

In the second part of our exploration of how Darwin revolutionised just about everything, David and Adam discuss how human evolution fits into the story, where and when genes come into the story, and whether contemporary critics of the idea of Darwinian evolution are anything other than cranks and crackpots. Plus, was Darwin lucky to discover natural selection or are we lucky that it was Darwin who discovered it?

The final part of our series on 1848 looks at the fight back: how did the ruling classes keep their power and at what cost? How did Britain avoid a revolution? Was Napoleon III the end of the revolution or an extension of it? Did revolution turn into reform or reaction? And what is the legacy of 1848 in the politics of today?

In this bonus episode David discusses how arguments from the distant past about America and monarchy are being weaponised in the age of Trump 2.0. Who seriously thinks in 2025 that what the US needs is a king? Where do these ideas come from? What do they get right and what do they get wrong about executive power in the era of democratic politics? And what's this got to do with the UK?

In this bonus episode David talks to historian Alec Ryrie about another key figure of the Reformation: Jean Calvin. Who was Calvin and what made Calvinism such a powerful theological and political movement? Does it deserve its reputation for ruthless discipline and puritan morality? How has its influence been felt from revolutionary America to apartheid South Africa?