Night Waves - Tony Benn

In a discussion in front of an audience at Radio 3's Free Thinking Festival 2008 in Liverpool, Susan Hitch is joined by former Labour MP and cabinet minister Tony Benn to reflect on one of the key themes of the festival: the value of experience. He talks about being taken by his father to meet Gandhi when he was six years old, and the pleasure he still remembers when the father of Indian independence asked him questions and listened to his thoughts. He muses on the importance of listening to the young as well as advising them, and describes Marx as the last of the Old Testament prophets. Crucially, he explains that his own experience of two world wars, his time as a pilot and the deaths of friends and his brother, are intrinsic to his commitment to peace. He also talks about his new practical invention 'Benn's Safe Seat'.