Night Waves - The Social Network, Germany and Shakespeare

Anne McElvoy talks to The West Wing writer and creator Aaron Sorkin, whose new film The Social Network is about Facebook, the internet social networking phenomenon that started in Harvard and now has over 500 million users worldwide. In a new book The New Machiavelli: How to Wield Power in the Modern World, former New Labour Chief of Staff Jonathan Powell compares his experiences at Downing Street with those of Machiavelli, the 15th Century Italian philosopher whose guide to wielding power is still hugely influential today. Anne talks to Howard Jacobson who, after years of being excluded from the Man Booker prize shortlist, won last night with his novel The Finkler Question Plus Germany's claim on Shakespeare. Ever since Goethe delivered an inspirational talk about the bard to a group of friends in 1771, Shakespeare has had a particularly strong hold on German culture. This special affinity is celebrated by a season of events at the Globe Theatre in London and discussed on Night Waves by Rudiger Goerner, Director of the Centre for Anglo-German Cultural Relations, and Karen Leeder, Professor of German at Oxford.