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Tom Sutcliffe talks to the commentator Rod Liddle about his assertion that modern Western society has become politically and socially stagnant. In his polemic, Selfish Whining Monkeys, Liddle argues that his generation are self-obsessed, deluded and spoilt. Neil Jameson from Citizens UK dismisses this description of society and says his growing number of members are organised, socially active and community-minded. The Chinese writer and filmmaker Xiaolu Guo contrasts East and West in her latest tragic love story, and the Artistic Director Ramin Gray talks about the play The Events, which has a community choir at its heart and explores the aftermath of a violent event. Producer: Katy Hickman.

Picture taken by Axel HesslenbergStart the Week is at the Charleston literary Festival with the novelists Tim Winton, Karl Ove Knausgaard, Nicola Barker and the poet and publisher Michael Schmidt. The death of the novel has been predicted since the early twentieth century but in a special programme recorded in front of an audience Tom Sutcliffe talks to three leading novelists from around the world about their latest works. They discuss their influences and their divergent styles, from Knausgaard's minute examination of his life to Tim Winton's tale of disillusionment and redemption, and Nicola Barker's humorous eccentrics. Michael Schmidt has written a biography of the novel, charting its ups and downs, its personalities and relationships and argues the form is in rude health.Producer: Katy Hickman.

Anne McElvoy talks to the biologist Ken Thompson who dismisses attempts to control invasive species and questions the veracity of dividing plants and animals into 'native' and 'alien'. However the Director of the Kew Innovation Unit Monique Simmonds warns that alien pests and diseases can have a devastating effect on much-loved plants, and that it's vital to maintain and support diverse environments. The farmer John Lewis-Stempel records the passage of the seasons in his account of the life of an English meadow and he laments the decline of some of his favourite birds from his childhood. The woolly mammoth used to be native in Europe before it became extinct, and the palaeontologist Victoria Herridge confounds expectations by identifying the smallest mammoth ever known to have lived. Producer: Katy Hickman.