Today - 29/12/2008

Presented by Evan Davis and James Naughtie. Neuroscientist Professor VS Ramachandran discusses why it is that human beings like art. Writer Alain de Botton explains why a School of Life is needed. Israel has begun a third day of bombing of Gaza. Hospital workers Dr Khamis El Essi and Leah Malul discuss the conditions for casualties. Novelist Jonathan Franzen and short story writer George Saunders discuss the life of American writer David Foster Wallace. Historian Marc Almond discusses a poll to find the greatest Russian to have ever lived. Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat discusses the ongoing conflict in the Gaza strip. Writer Geoff Dyer discusses time-keeping and punctuality. Thought for the day with the writer and broadcaster Rhidian Brook. Is there still an avant-garde in British fiction? Authors Stewart Home, Tom McCarthy and Hari Kunzru discuss. Foreign Secretary David Miliband and Deputy Israeli Ambassador in London Talya Lador-Fresher, discuss the origins of this current upsurge in fighting in the Middle East. Comedian Russell Kane considers the heritage of the class struggle in comedy. Guest editor Zadie Smith visits Liberia, often described as a "failed-state", to consider what the term means. Writer Zadie Smith reflects on the choices she made as guest editor of the Today programme.