Many of the ideas which drove James to write his excellent book Cultural Amnesia (2007) recur in these broadcasts: the importance of liberal democracy, the liberation of women, the corruption of language, and the assault by pseudo-intellectuals on the achievements of Western civilisation. The broadcasts deal with events that were topical at the time they were aired, but because James brings in a sense of history they hold up remarkably well. In March 2008, James made a case for the right to privacy. The broadcast shows that long before the phone-hacking scandal, James already had the wisdom to make the wider point about the tabloid press's use of private conversations intercepted via email or mobile phones:

 Until recently, the concept of private life was basic to civilisation. Its value could be measured by the thoroughness with which totalitarian states and religions always did their best to stamp it out. But now we have to face the possibility that the latest stage of civilization, this era of perpetual alteration that we are living in now, might also be trying to stamp it out.

 What's striking about this is that it's not an opinion: it is wisdom, which is more valuable than noisy commentary because it's built on real learning. 

An unexpected pleasure of this book is the way James's family often serves as a touchstone for his thinking. James rarely writes about his loved ones. He has long held the reasonable conviction that they have a right to privacy, like everybody else does. But at some point in recent years he found the right tone to use to let readers in on another part of his experience. As the Australian novelist and critic David Free has argued, James's decision to write more intimately about his family — and in particular about his marriage — has brought an unfettered feel to his late poetry. In these broadcasts James brings his family into the process of composition. We see him working out his ideas at the lunch table while his granddaughter works out how to manipulate a blue plastic-handled spoon. This is a rare and touching glimpse of James as husband, father and grandfather.