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Sarah Dunant presents a monthly dive into stories from the past that might help us make sense of today.

This month, as the gears of government grind to a standstill on both sides of the Atlantic, Sarah looks to historical deadlocks and the sometimes radical ways they were resolved.

From the elder statesman called from his plough to become Rome\\u2019s first benign dictator, through the random selection of citizens resolving bitter conflicts in Imperial China, Medieval Florence and beyond, to the figure of St Hild the Anglo-Saxon woman whose grace in defeat sealed the future of Christianity in Britain - Sarah traces stories of paralysed systems and deep divisions, to shed a little light on how today\\u2019s entrenched leaders and struggling democracies might find a route out of impasse.

Sarah\\u2019s guests are:\\nProfessor Natalia Sobrevilla Perea, University of Kent \\nProfessor Yves Sintomer, University of Paris 8 \\nDr Hetta Howes, City, University of London\\nDr Luke Pitcher, University of Oxford

Presenter: Sarah Dunant\\nReaders: Keith Wickham and Karina Fernandez

Producers: Natalie Steed and Nathan Gower \\nExecutive Producer: David Prest

A Whistledown production for BBC Radio 4