The Middle

From taking the middle ground to the mid-life crisis, Middle England to middle managers, to being a middle child - is occupying a position in the middle out of fashion? Anne McElvoy hosts Radio 4's ideas discussion programme and her guests this week for a middling conversation are:

Journalist Catherine Carr. Her new book Who's the Favourite?: The Loving, Messy Realities of Sibling Relationships explores being a middle child and the relevance of birth order.

Writer and broadcaster Mark Lawson, who has written novels set in Middle England.

Symeon Brown, home affairs correspondent at Channel 4 news, whose forthcoming book is The Good, the Black and the Boujee: The Story of Britain's New Black Middle Class.

Adrian Wooldridge, journalist, author and global business columnist at Bloomberg Opinion. His recent book is Centrists of the World Unite! The Lost Genius of Liberalism.

Claire Ainsley, former adviser to Keir Starmer, now at the Progressive Policy Institute.

Producer: Eliane Glaser