Artist Zarah Hussain recalls her father's love of gardening and growing roses as a link to his native Pakistan. She reflects on the rose as a symbol of British national identity while also having foreign origins and universal appeal. "The rose is a migrant, a traveller, beholden to no land, culture or language, but embraced by all. Something that started as foreign has become our own and has been absorbed over time into our culture and our history." Recorded in front of a live audience at Somers...
Jan 10, 2018•21 min
Karen Chapple discusses gentrification and how to keep our cities diverse. As she explains while telling two stories about finding a place to live, she has often found herself asking 'Am I a gentrifier?'. A professor of City and Regional Planning at the University of California, Berkeley, Karen argues that in the past we had to fit our own story with the story of the neighbourhood we wanted to move into; now data can offer a much richer picture of where we live. Producer: Giles Edwards....
Jan 03, 2018•21 min
Michael Merrick challenges how we think about social mobility. Sharing his own story, Michael makes the case that social mobility often involves pressure on individuals to move away - both physically and metaphorically - from the family and community which nourished them. He argues that the graduate professions thus take on a particular character, making those professions uncomfortable places to be for people arriving in them from working class backgrounds. And he suggests that this division, wh...
Nov 29, 2017•21 min
Dalia Elmelige tells the story of her life as a Muslim in America after 9/11. 'I didn't get to celebrate my little brother's first birthday', begins Dalia, as she describes her life as a Muslim in post-9/11 America. From playground bullying to work at the Carter Presidential Center on countering ISIS propaganda, in many ways her life has been defined by the aftermath of 9/11. In this moving talk, introduced by Olly Mann, Dalia shares some reflections on isolation and identity. Producer: Giles Ed...
Nov 22, 2017•19 min
Geoff Colman discusses truth and reality in acting. As Head of Acting at the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama in London, Geoff has an unparalleled view of the shifting worlds of acting and drama. But in recent years he has been asked to coach artists across the performing arts, in fields where acting - in particular acting for the camera - would never previously have been a concern. In this Four Thought, Geoff tells the story of how he fell in love with the theatre of acting, and how tec...
Nov 16, 2017•20 min
Dan Mayfield, founder of the School of Noise, explains why he believes everyone is capable of making music, and why the right kind of music education is so important to encourage young people's creativity. "I believe... there is musicality in all of us, because I think of music as nothing more nor less than organised sound, and it shouldn't be something to be afraid of." Recorded in front of a live audience at the WOMAD world music and arts festival in Wiltshire. Presenter: Helen Zaltzman Produc...
Aug 29, 2017•14 min
Comedian Nick Revell explains why he manages to be optimistic - despite all the evidence. "These days it's perhaps easier than ever to get pessimistic at the state of the world; I've had periods when I would wake up in the morning, check the news and ask myself if it's even worth moisturising. But I have a very positive attitude to life now. So let me take you on my journey of discovery." Recorded in front of a live audience at the WOMAD world music and arts festival in Wiltshire. Presenter: Hel...
Aug 23, 2017•14 min
Natalie Maddix, founder of the House Gospel Choir, explains why she believes in the power of singing together. She gets the audience at WOMAD to join in to prove her point. "Singing really has this healing property. There is a truth inside of us that maybe we're not ready to face and sometimes it's not until we sing together that we even become aware of our feelings." Recorded in front of a live audience at the WOMAD world music and arts festival in Wiltshire. Producer: Richard Knight....
Aug 16, 2017•14 min
Syrian qanun virtuoso Maya Youssef explains why - to her - music is "the opposite of death" in this powerful and poignant talk. "I played a concert in a refugee centre in Aalborg, Denmark," she says, "and afterwards a ten-year old child approached me and said, 'Your music brought back the memory of beautiful days in Syria and the smell of lemon and jasmine.' Another woman added, 'I haven't felt happy like this for a long time'. I felt joy and grief at the same time hearing this." Recorded in fro...
Aug 09, 2017•14 min
Ivo Gormley tells the story of his bright idea to combine getting fit with doing good in the community, at a time of growing social isolation. Recorded at the Phoenix Artist Club. Presenter: Helen Zaltzman Producer: Sheila Cook.
Aug 02, 2017•13 min
Annie Broadbent shares her experience of being bereaved, and thinks we should overcome the taboos that surround talking about grief. "If we have the courage to change our way of feeling and thinking about death, not only will we be better placed to support the ones who are left behind, we will change our relationship with life." Recorded at the Phoenix Artist Club in London. Presenter: Helen Zaltzman Producer: Sheila Cook.
Jul 26, 2017•19 min
Andrew Martin explains his passion for using cash in the face of the advancing tide of electronic payments. An aid to thrift, it also spares him from feeling that every purchase is being recorded and potentially monitored. "I have become like my Dad, who forty years ago, would be deflected from a whimsical purchase because it would mean "breaking into a tenner". Recorded at the Phoenix Artist Club in London. Presenter: Helen Zaltzman Producer: Sheila Cook.
Jul 20, 2017•14 min
Hanna Pickard says we need to understand the reasons why desperate people become addicted to drugs, seeing them neither as "victims of a neurobiological disease", nor as "selfish, lazy hedonists". "Choosing to use drugs, including alcohol, to gain pleasure and escape from life's banality, isn't the same as choosing to use drugs to relieve suffering." Recorded at the Phoenix Artist Club in London. Presenter: Helen Zaltzman Producer: Sheila Cook.
Jul 12, 2017•21 min
Juno Dawson thinks we should get over our prurient obsession with transgender people and value them like any other individuals, in her case as a writer of young adult fiction. "All any of us can ever talk about is our own experience of transitioning, but this has intrinsically tied our value to - at best - our heroic journey and - at worst - our genitals." Recorded at the Hay Festival. Presenter: Helen Zaltzman Producer: Sheila Cook.
Jul 05, 2017•23 min
John Ballatt calls for a new approach to supporting the NHS, using "intelligent kindness" to transform the culture of healthcare. "Simplistic faith in industrialisation and procedural rules leads us to tell staff what to do , when, how and with what result, and to monitor them with quite ruthless intrusiveness. Inevitably this distracts, creates anxiety, squeezing out the very intelligence, and kindness, upon which good work depends." Recorded at the Hay Festival. Presenter: Helen Zaltzman Produ...
Jun 28, 2017•20 min
Hugh Warwick charts the fragmentation of the British landscape by the lines which cross it, and he calls for urgent reconnection to allow our flora and fauna to flourish. "I believe we need to reinterpret the landscape in order to hold back the deterioration of the land we share with wildlife." Recorded at the Hay Festival. Presenter: Helen Zaltzman Producer: Sheila Cook.
Jun 21, 2017•22 min
Cyberpsychologist Dr Mary Aiken warns of the risk to human development posed by our obsession with cyberspace. Millions of babies round the world deprived of eye contact and proper attention, because their parents are distracted by their smartphones, could cause "an evolutionary blip". "We cannot stand by passively and watch the cyber social experiment play out. In human terms to wait is to allow for the worst outcomes, many of which are unfolding before our eyes." Recorded at the Hay Festival. ...
Jun 14, 2017•21 min
Richard Gillis explains how a mistake at the 2014 Ryder Cup explains a trend across our society. Richard is a sports and business writer who believes that the leadership industry is bolstered by ideas about what it means to be in charge garnered from and popularised by sport. Producer: Giles Edwards.
May 16, 2017•19 min
Josie Appleton argues that petty rules stifle our human responses and damage society. Josie is Director of The Manifesto Club, which campaigns against state intrusion into everyday life. In this Four Thought, recorded at the Design Museum in London, she argues that it isn't just the state which is coming up with rules, but many other parts of civil society. She thinks we need to rally against this trend, arguing that we need to respond as normal human beings should, not according to a set of rul...
May 10, 2017•19 min
Andrea Cooper argues that football is an 'electric currency', and explains why she believes it can change the world for the better. Andrea is Head of the Liverpool Football Club Foundation, and in this talk she describes watching young people listening intently to their favourite footballers, and how her foundation now hopes to work with the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine in the developing world. She hopes to use the deep wellspring of affection amongst Liverpool Football Club's immense g...
Apr 26, 2017•17 min
Jay Owens argues that dust is a lot more interesting than we think, and we ought to pay more attention to it. Jay has spent years researching dust, and produces a popular newsletter on the subject. In this fascinating Four Thought, recorded at the Design Museum in London, she shares some stories from the field of dust research that up until now have only been known to other 'dust people', as she calls her fellow dust researchers. Producer: Giles Edwards.
Apr 19, 2017•20 min
Astrid Alben explains how only art and science together can help us appreciate complicated phenomena like moonlight. Astrid is a poet and founder of the arts and science organisation, the PARS Foundation. In this meditative talk, she explains how bridging the artificial divide between science and the arts leads to a greater understanding of concepts as varied as moonlight, laughter and elasticity. Producer: Giles Edwards.
Feb 22, 2017•18 min
Daniel Hahn, a judge for this year's Man Booker International Prize, asks what really makes a good book. Producer: Giles Edwards.
Feb 15, 2017•19 min
Mark Breeze asks why architects haven't done more to design shelter for refugees. An architect himself, he tells us that his training was aimed at helping him come up with solutions to the toughest problems, yet none is tougher than finding a balance between impermanence, sustainability and low cost in homes for refugees. After visiting the so-called 'Jungle' camp in Calais and witnessing conditions there, Mark explains how he hopes to find a better framework for architects like him to help. Pro...
Feb 01, 2017•18 min
Rowland Manthorpe explains why he thinks the quality of confidence is overrated and is more of a curse than a blessing. "Far from being good for everything, confidence comes with its own set of priorities, not all of which fit the things we claim to want or need." Producer: Sheila Cook.
Jan 25, 2017•18 min
Ellen Mara De Wachter says collaborative art or "co-art" offers new insights into human relationships and the role of sharing in society. "The co-artists who were successful in their collaborations were those who recognised and valued difference within the group...The key was not to get over personal differences, but to value them as essential to the creative process." Producer: Sheila Cook.
Jan 18, 2017•19 min
Franklyn Addo describes how witnessing a murder transformed his life. It made him all the more determined to help other young people from underprivileged backgrounds go to top universities, as he did, and to challenge stereotypes. "There's so much more to talk about regarding council estates other than crime and anguish; more pertinent things, more celebratory things and more interesting things," he says. Producer: Sheila Cook.
Jan 11, 2017•18 min
Writer Jonathan Stroud explains why he thinks ghost stories are good for you. "While it may seem odd that it's pleasurable to be frightened, it's actually - like other activities that get the heart racing - a celebration of being alive. While so much around us is frankly mind-numbing, there's something pure and bracing about a nicely delivered scare." Producer: Sheila Cook.
Jan 04, 2017•17 min
Jonnie Bayfield reflects on being the last generation to grow up in an analogue childhood. "Looking back, I can see that no-one had any idea what the chemical, biological, or social ramifications of this burgeoning technology might be. In my school we had computer classes, but no-one ever suggested that intense use would lead to anything other than a personal and global liberation." Producer: Sheila Cook.
Dec 28, 2016•21 min
Matt Hood says we need to raise the standards of teaching by treating it like a performance profession where techniques are honed in rehearsal rather than tried out "live" in front of a class. "When we have low expectations of how complex teaching is, it translates directly into low expectations for how sophisticated training and development for teachers needs to be. As a result teachers learn less. That is a disaster." Producer: Sheila Cook.
Dec 21, 2016•21 min
