Peter Bleksley, a former undercover policeman fighting drugs crime and an ex-drug addict, argues that the only answer in the so-called "war on drugs" is to legalise and license them. "It's about time we had a radical rethink and came up with a plan that would wrestle the control and the enormous profits of this global industry, which is worth hundreds of billions of pounds per year, away from the hands of the bad guys and into the coffers of responsible governments." Producer: Sheila Cook....
Apr 22, 2015•21 min
Jamie Bartlett finds out that internet trolls can be surprisingly human. The author of "The Dark Net", he says that demonising people behind shocking and hidden online subcultures may not be the best way to deal with them. Greater understanding of the complexity of their motivation could lead us to a more effective response. Without condoning their disturbing and unacceptable behaviour, he tells the stories of his surprising encounters with them. Producer: Sheila Cook.
Apr 15, 2015•21 min
Amy Golden, who is seriously disabled - she can move only her right arm and cannot speak - shares what life is like through her eyes. In an essay read by actor Rhiannon Neads, she reveals her frustrations, her battle with depression and also the pleasures of being able to watch what other people are up to without being noticed. "I think perhaps they sometimes allow me to pick up on things because they don't realise that there's a thinking, feeling person inside this body," she says. Her talk is ...
Apr 08, 2015•19 min
Darren Harris, a double paralympic athlete and mathematics graduate, draws similarities between people and prime numbers: each is indivisible and unique. In the age of big data, he makes the case for a more person-centred approach in public services. And he finds it in an unexpected place, somewhere more usually associated with a 'win at all costs' mentality: elite sport. Producer: Giles Edwards.
Dec 31, 2014•18 min
Paola Antonelli explores the politics in art and design. The curator of design at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, Paola uses examples from a recent exhibition to show how curatorial decisions can be extremely political, and to examine the role of museums and curators in stimulating political debate and discussion. The programme is presented by Amanda Stern, from McNally Jackson Books in New York City. Producer: Giles Edwards.
Dec 24, 2014•19 min
Jeffrey Sachs argues that many of today's global problems are hangovers from bad, ungenerous decisions at the end of previous conflicts. Professor Sachs is one of the world's leading economists, and amongst the many governments he has advised over 30 years were Poland and Russia at the end of the Cold War. In this very personal talk, recorded at McNally Jackson books in New York City, Professor Sachs describes how a stunned Russian Prime Minister, facing economic calamity and desperate for weste...
Dec 17, 2014•20 min
Professor Christina Greer asks what it means to be black in America today. Speaking at McNally Jackson Books in New York City, Professor Greer describes herself as a 'JB' - 'just black' - a black American without a hyphenation. She argues that many new black immigrants into the United States are increasingly keen to avoid that designation, choosing instead to retain their accents, their citizenship or their separate identity. She argues that this is caused by the poor status of black people in t...
Dec 10, 2014•18 min
Elizabeth Wurtzel, author of the seminal memoir book Prozac Nation, revisits the process of writing the book. And on the twentieth anniversary of its publication, she explores the relationship between writing and the need to pay the bills. Speaking in front of an audience at McNally Jackson Books in New York City, Elizabeth argues that people have lost their minds trying to write great literature. Instead, she says, "If your whole thing is 'I can't starve', you'd be stunned with what you come up...
Dec 03, 2014•19 min
Is it time to radically re-think pet ownership? In this highly challenging and thought provoking Four Thought the writer Esther Woolfson argues that a lifetime spent sharing her home with a variety of birds and animals - rook, magpie, crow, starling, canaries, parrots, rats and rabbits - has led her to understand just how little we really know about the capacities and feelings of other beings. Pushing us to consider why we own pets in the first place Esther's talk promises to have you looking at...
Nov 26, 2014•17 min
Author, poet and translator, Kenneth Steven, draws on the magical experience of a long dreamed for trip to Greenland to consider the dangers of cruise ship tourism. While Kenneth understands the desire of tourists to experience the extraordinary landscape and culture of the Arctic, after all he has a long held personal passion for northern places and people himself, he worries the arrival of the cruise ships does more damage than good to the fragile Inuit communities. Might there not be a better...
Nov 19, 2014•17 min
Andy Kirkpatrick - acclaimed mountaineer, author and stand-up - challenges us to let our children be exposed to greater risk. He argues that we shouldn't be wrapping up children in cotton wool, that children will naturally seek out risky, challenging, scary experiences and that by over protecting them we might just be encouraging them to seek out much more dangerous situations. Using a terrifying mountain climb he did with his young daughter as an example, Andy argues that if we're brave enough ...
Nov 12, 2014•17 min
Acclaimed disabled dancer and choreographer, Claire Cunningham, offers up a starkly honest and intriguing challenge to anyone who's ever just assumed that someone with a disability would want to be 'cured' if they could be. For Claire being disabled makes her unique and gives her a fresh insight into life. In this compelling edition of Four Thought she considers why on earth she'd opt to be just the same as everyone else when she can be different, utterly individual, unlike anyone else.
Nov 05, 2014•17 min
Jon Alexander argues that consumer power has become an idea which from parenting to politics is damaging society. He argues that the age of the internet offers an alternative path, but that it is one we as a society must choose proactively. Producer: Giles Edwards.
Oct 29, 2014•19 min
Entrepreneur Robyn Scott tells the remarkable story of her transformative work with murderers and other violent criminals in one of South Africa's most notorious jails, and she argues that accepting more risk will improve public services. Producer: Giles Edwards.
Oct 22, 2014•18 min
Wyn James tells the story of the Welsh settlements in Patagonia. On their 150th anniversary, he asks what lessons they might offer about migration and integration. Wyn blends stories from his own visits to Welsh Patagonia and the history of the settlements themselves. The original idea was to retain a distinct Welsh identity and to remain separate. Over time that has changed, to a distinct Welsh identity within wider Argentine society, and Wyn asks what lessons this might offer our own and other...
Oct 15, 2014•19 min
We are trying to revive our high streets the wrong way, argues Clare Richmond. Clare has many years' experience in helping to revive the fortunes of high street shops. But she has grown disenchanted with the current expectation that councils, town managers and government hit squads can improve things. Her own experience has taught her that real and lasting change for the better can only happen when businesses get fully involved and believe they hold their futures in their own hands. Producer: Gi...
Oct 08, 2014•19 min
Sunil Shaunak argues that pharmaceuticals could, and should, build social capital. Arguing that the twin risks of rampant infectious disease and resistance to antibiotics represent a grave threat to our future, Sunil makes the case for ethical pharmaceuticals. Sunil's own background bridges the gap between academia and the pharmaceutical industry, and from this vantage point he has grown concerned that while the public sector puts up the initial financial capital, the return is often in purely f...
Oct 01, 2014•20 min
Daniel Hahn argues that as a society we would benefit from having more children's books translated into English. A translator himself, and author of a major book about children's literature, Daniel is concerned that few books are being translated today to sit alongside Tintin, Asterix and the Moomins. Producer: Giles Edwards.
Sep 24, 2014•19 min
Tiffany Jenkins argues that we need more judgement about quality in art, culture and life. Tiffany's field of expertise is the arts. She says that judgement about quality is unfashionable in today's art world, and this is a problem. She believes that only by being clear about how judgements are reached, and discussing them openly, can we hope to reach a consensus on a common culture. Producer: Giles Edwards.
Sep 17, 2014•19 min
Anna Beer asks why we don't hear more music composed by women. She argues that many creative women still live, as they have for centuries, in the shadow of the courtesan. Using the stories of female composers from Medici-era Florence to twentieth-century Britain, she shows how excellent music composed by women has been ignored or overlooked, and explains why. Producer: Giles Edwards.
Sep 10, 2014•19 min
Carrie Gibson argues that we need to re-think what we mean by paradise. Carrie has recently completed a major history of the Caribbean, and in this talk she explores the complicated interwoven history of the Caribbean and of how it has been understood in the wealthy west. And she argues that we may need to re-evaluate our understanding of the meaning of paradise. Producer: Giles Edwards.
Sep 03, 2014•17 min
Philosopher Amia Srinivasan makes the case for anger, arguing that it can be a huge source of strength and power, particularly for the apparently weak and powerless. Using the personal experiences and political beliefs of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X to advance her case, Amia argues that we should seriously question why people in power criticise or dismiss those who are angry. Producer: Giles Edwards.
Aug 27, 2014•18 min
Comedian Rosie Wilby proposes the end of monogamy. She first discussed the idea in a show at last year's Edinburgh festival, since when it has taken an unexpectedly serious turn. That show prompted many people to get in touch with Rosie to share their stories, and it has even had knock-on effects in her own life. Now she shares her thinking on how it might affect ours, too. Producer: Giles Edwards.
Aug 20, 2014•19 min
Mara Oliva argues that we need to think differently about ordinary Americans' views and the making of their nation's foreign policy. Mara has spent countless hours in US presidential archives examining how public opinion was assessed and understood in several administrations. In this talk she compares her research into the series of crises in East and South-East Asia from the 1940s to the 1970s - Taiwan, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and China - to the Middle East today. She argues that the American p...
Aug 13, 2014•19 min
When Revd Philip North was tending the spiritual needs of people on an estate in Hartlepool he saw at close range the way a poor community could become self-sufficient. But in the years since, he argues, the working class has been systematically de-skilled by middle class professionals. In this provocative talk he argues that top-down meddling has replaced grassroots community-building, and that society is worse off for it. Four Thought is a series of thought-provoking talks in which speakers ai...
Aug 06, 2014•23 min
Actor Adjoa Andoh's son sensed from a very young age that although he inhabits the body of a girl, he was born a boy. "In the imperfect language we have to describe people," she says, "we call him transgender." Adjoa talks movingly about raising a transgender child, and about what really defines who we are or who we might become. "In too many places today," she says, "and in too many ways, we suffocate our true potential selves at birth." Four Thought is a series of thought-provoking talks in wh...
Jul 30, 2014•22 min
Technology writer Rupert Goodwins was an early user of internet message boards which he idealistically thought would bring the world closer together. The truth hit him when he waded into a forum debating creationism and ended up being attacked by both sides. He argues that the fundamental problem of incivility on the internet has never gone away - in fact it has got much, much worse. Four Thought is a series of thought-provoking talks in which speakers air their thinking on the trends, ideas, in...
Jul 23, 2014•14 min
When economist Noreena Hertz became very ill she confronted a difficult question: who should she trust? The answer was much more complicated than it first appeared and her quest to find out more about her treatment led her to a deep scepticism about expertise. Four Thought is a series of thought-provoking talks in which speakers air their thinking on the trends, ideas, interests and passions that affect culture and society in front of a live audience. Presenter: Ben Hammersley Producer: Mike Wen...
Jul 16, 2014•19 min
Jasper Fforde explains why he is concerned that humans have reached the limits of intellectual creative thought. Four Thought is a series of thought-provoking talks in which speakers air their thinking, in front of a live audience, on the trends, ideas, interests and passions that affect culture and society. Presenter: Kamin Mohammadi Producer: Estelle Doyle.
Jul 09, 2014•17 min
Serena Kutchinsky explains the impact an obsession with the Faberge egg had on her family and why she now believes such priceless objects should belong to all. Four Thought is a series of thought-provoking talks in which speakers air their thinking, in front of a live audience, on the trends, ideas, interests and passions that affect culture and society. Presenter: Kamin Mohammadi Producer: Estelle Doyle.
Jul 02, 2014•16 min
