PODCAST · society
Four Thought
by BBC Radio 4
Series of thought-provoking talks in which the speakers air their thinking on the trends, ideas, interests and passions that affect culture and society
Episodes
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What I've Learned from Four Thought
In the final episode of Four Thought, Sheila Cook reflects on what she has learned from producing it for eleven years. Sheila, who left the BBC in 2022, produced around 150 episodes on Four Thought, and in this reflection on the power of hope she looks back at some of the talks which have…
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Life Without Chilli
Three years on from her first appearance on Four Thought, Dr. Dina Rezk returns to Four Thought. Her first talk was about the shocking and unexpected death of her mother; this time, as she describes another bereavement, the tone is unexpectedly positively, even exultant, as Dina reflects on the...
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Care to Care
Farrah Jarral explains why she believes we need to put care at the centre of our society. Sharing a story about how her beloved grandmother's lifetime of caring for others - family members and others - meant many people wanted to care for her when the need arose, Farrah reflects on what care does...
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Turning to Art
Ted Harrison argues that only art can truly capture the essence of spirituality. Ted is a former journalist who, close to turning sixty, decided to turn away from using words and instead chose art. It was, he says, because he realised the limitations imposed by words, and the way in which art can...
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Stand Up for Irish Travellers
Martin Warde is the first Irish Traveller to become a professional comedian. In this talk he recounts his early years travelling before his family settled down and he and his brothers attended school in Galway. His school days weren't easy, he and other traveller boys were treated differently.…
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I'm not having children to save the planet
Sarah Williams always wanted to become a mum. But the more she learnt about the climate crisis, the more she questioned her decision. In this talk Sarah explains why she's chosen not to have children in order to save the planet, and how she encourages others to think twice about it. She says that...
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Life after 'life-changing'
Martin Hibbert's life changed forever in 2017. He survived the Manchester Arena bomb but was left with life-changing injuries. Now a wheelchair user, Martin says he doesn't dwell on his old life but instead embraces his new one. He says he's determined to turn an act of terror into a force for...
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I love gaming, but gaming doesn't always love me
Meg Sunshine, a 21 year old professional gamer is dedicated to becoming one of the best in the industry. Gaming is her life. But her journey has not been an easy one. She’s experienced threats of sexual violence from male gamers and has frequently felt unsafe online. She’s determined to bring…
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Moral Animals
Philosopher Virginie Simoneau-Gilbert describes a change in how philosophers are beginning to think about the moral capacity of animals, and asks us to think differently about our pets. Beginning with her own pet dog showing compassion for her when she is injured, Virginie explains why new…
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On Regret
Author Rachel Genn describes her fascination with regret. Rachel tells stories of regret, beginning in her earliest childhood. “An early adopter of regret,” she says, “I was displaying the prodigy’s irritating flair for it.” Producer: Giles Edwards
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After a Parent Dies by Suicide
Anna Wardley argues that we should better support children whose parents kill themselves. Beginning her talk in the dark waters of the English Channel as she attempts to swim non-stop around the Isle of Wight, Anna describes darkness of a different kind as she explains the need for children whose...
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Piracy on the Page
Author Joe Nutt argues we need to fight back against what he calls 'linguistic piracy'. Joe is concerned that activists are challenging the commonly-understood meaning of words. "The trust which becomes naturally embedded over time in any shared language, is under threat," he argues, and now "the...
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From Care to Cambridge
Kasmira Kincaid opens up about the challenges of her childhood and her experiences of the care system. Despite her many personal challenges Kasmira found solace in learning and successfully graduated from Corpus Christi College. She now argues that a good education should be a basic right for...
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Baldness, Beauty and Me
After an incident at school which shattered Lizi Jackson-Barrett’s confidence in her appearance, she spent much of her life chasing what society thinks of as beautiful. Only when she suffered from Alopecia at the age of forty, did she find confidence in herself and her beauty. She urges society…
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From Bradford with Love
Crime writer Amit Dhand shares his experiences of growing up in Bradford in the 1980s. His family actively integrated with the local community. “We simply had to integrate; to talk to the locals, to create friendships. Sharing language and food was a key part of this process. It wasn’t optional –...
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What I learnt from Reality TV
Former Love Island contestant Malin Andersson reflects on how reality TV changed her outlook on life and her relationship with social media. In an honest and open talk, Malin shares what led her to go on reality TV, her experience of eating disorders, how grief forced her to examine her...
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A Friendship
Novelist Richard Owain Roberts shares a story about a friendship. Producer: Giles Edwards
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Who Tells the Story?
Chloe Juliette welcomes the movement for those with 'lived experience' of public services to share their stories, but says more stories are needed. In this extraordinary talk Chloe, a social researcher who has experienced the care system and been invited many times to share those experiences with...
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Somewhere, not Nowhere
Jonathan Evershed argues that we should re-imagine how we think of the Irish Sea. Jonathan is a political anthropologist who has been studying the relationship between Ireland and his native Wales since Brexit. And he believes it's time to start thinking of the Irish Sea not just as a space…
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Meeting Up
Laura Simpson argues that online meetings have good for individuals and companies, and that we should be wary of returning to the status quo. The meeting, says Laura, is the fundamental unit of white collar working life. And in the last couple of years it's undergone a revolution - out have gone...
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Asking the right questions about crime
Criminologist Dr Laura Bui wants us to ask the right questions when it comes to crime. The popular genre of ‘true crime’ may be popular but is it helping us better understand the origins of crime? We turn to crime novels, film and documentaries to compare ourselves to both victims and…
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Cities made for our mental health
Dr Layla McCay asks us to think again about how our buildings and towns can both benefit and harm our mental health. As a trained psychiatrist and head of the Centre for Urban Design she has brought together the research around this topic for the first time. Looking at how plants and water can...
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Making Time
Watchmaker Rebecca Struthers shares her passion for the art and science of horology. She warns that this traditional skill and its allied trades to make and restore watches, are endangered in Britain unless we make it easier for the next generation to be trained in them. "When well-made objects…
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Grief: A Practical Guide
James Helm gives a practical guide to dealing with grief and sudden single parenthood. Following the early death of his wife Charlotte, he found himself without the love of his life and single-handedly bringing up their three sons. He shares what he has learnt from personal experience - "what…
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Valuing Care
Ai-jen Poo argues that we should all value caring, and carers. Ai-jen, a MacArthur Fellow, is Director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance, an advocacy organisation in the United States representing domestic workers, many of them carers. In this powerful, intimate talk, she tells the story…
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Brain Matters
Beth Stevens talks about the brain cells most people have never heard of, and suggests what they might have to teach us. Beth is a neuroscientist and associate professor at Harvard Medical School, who in 2015 was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship - the so-called 'genius grant' - for her work on...
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Painting a different history
Tara Munroe reveals what she learned when she rescued some badly damaged paintings which were due to be thrown out. Tara is an arts curator and researcher. Ten years ago she found a pile of paintings marked with the words 'for disposal'. She was immediately intrigued, and as she began to research...
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Prison Sentence
Philippa Greer discusses the imprisonment of people convicted of genocide. Philippa is a human rights lawyer who has worked around the world. In this powerful talk she tells the story of a visit to West Africa to prepare for the funeral of a man who had recently died in prison. This man had been...
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The Power of Doubt
Nicola Reindorp, who once doubted her own abilities to be a CEO, says we should rehabilitate doubt as a strength rather than a weakness in leaders. "I'd seen my own doubts as negative, disqualifying me from leadership. I had seen others believe the same. But, I asked myself, aren't the best…
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Leaving Your Homeland
Eva Hnizdo reflects on the impulses which drive people to emigrate - or not, drawing on her Czech Jewish family's experience of the Holocaust and her own as a political asylum seeker. "Whenever members of my family thought about emigrating but didn't actually leave, they made a mistake, sometimes...
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Freedom Is a Must
Robyn Travis believes that labelling children as criminals is counterproductive in the fight against violence. He says they need to be freed from the mentality that keeps them as "prisoners to the streets". "It deeply saddens me that the media, film makers and rappers alike see a beneficial gain…
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And They Said We'd Be Glowing
Laura Dockrill describes her frightening experience of post partum psychosis after giving birth to her son. She calls for a wider conversation about risks to parental mental health and for help to be open to everyone. "This almost invisible illness was an assassin. An apparition that nobody else...
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Mum... again
Angela Frazer-Wicks tells her extraordinary story of being a mother. Years ago, Angela's sons were taken into care and adopted, and in this powerful talk she describes her heartbreak as they gradually lost contact and she lost faith in the future. But as she explains, with support from some very...
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Who Owns Space?
Simon Morden argues that we should resist the privatisation of space. Simon is a scientist and science fiction writer, and in this talk he reflects on what science fiction has taught us. "We know about the hubris of science through Frankenstein, we know of totalitarian state-controlled media...
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And His Wife
Jessica Barker argues that we should rediscover overlooked sculptures of women. She didn't know it at the time, but as a child Jessica spent part of every Christmas day looking at a famous medieval monument. Later, when she became an expert in medieval art, she was angered by the phrase 'and his...
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200 Days
Steven Dowd's life changed in an instant one spring morning in 2016. In this inspiring talk, Steven describes what happened, and how a promise to his wife enabled him to regain control of the change - and his life. Producer: Giles Edwards
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Fear of Finance
Professor Atul Shah draws on his background as a Jain to argue that we need a healthier relationship with finance: people often feel afraid of money matters because they lack knowledge and are prey to unplanned debt. He calls for more teaching about finance in schools and in the home, plus a more...
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What is it to Hear?
Joe Friedman, who grew up with deaf parents, reflects on what it means to hear. As a young psychotherapist, treating one particularly challenging client taught him the difference between listening that was only "skin deep" and really hearing someone else's pain. It helped him to lose his "deaf...
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The Tyranny of Positivity
Sian Ejiwunmi-Le Berre argues against the tyranny of positivity which forms part of a culture of "performative wellness", which she says sees illness as a form of personal failure. When extrapolated to other aspects of human life, this attitude is a "poison to society". Presenter; Olly Mann...
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The Power of Classical Music
Leon Bosch reflects on the power of classical music to transform lives, beginning with his own. He overcame the obstacles of racism in apartheid era South Africa to study the classical double bass. Despite encountering prejuduce in the UK, too, after moving here to study, he went on to build a...
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When We Were Young
Luke Rigg argues that more young magistrates will improve justice. When Luke told his friends and family he wanted to be a magistrate aged just 20, they all had one question: "Why are you doing that, Luke?" In this talk Luke takes us inside the magistrates' courts where for six years he has been...
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Virtually Immortal
Tracey Follows explores how virtual assistants can help us survive after death. Tracey is a futurist who has become fascinated by the memories of people after they die, and in this talk she asks who and what is being memorialised - is it us, or something else altogether? Producer: Giles Edwards
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Mums in Prison
Dr Shona Minson argues that we shouldn't punish children if their parents go to prison. Years ago, as a barrister specialising in care cases, Shona was familiar with the Children Act, and in particular its central principle: that the child's best interests are the paramount consideration of the...
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Climate Consultations
Dr. Tamsin Ellis is a GP who looks for ways to improve her patients' health and the environment. Welcoming us into her consulting room to meet her patients, Tamsin describes her journey to climate activism, and why she's convinced that looking for 'double wins' is the way forward. From giving a...
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The Meaning of Statues
Jak Beula says statues and memorials matter because they show who a society values. His organisation is working to erect more to honour people of colour, including a new statue which he has designed for Windrush and Commonwealth nurses and midwives at the Whittington Hospital in London. "It helps...
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What's In a Name?
Helena Goodwyn interrogates the near universal practice of giving children their father’s - not their mother’s - surname. She and her husband plan to buck the trend in a stand against structural inequality when their first baby is born. "We have the feminist movement to thank for many of the...
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Defeat Don't Repeat
Sergeant Rhys Rutledge of the Welsh Guards explains why he thinks people deserve a second chance after turning his own life around from convicted drug dealer to successful soldier. He's set up a project with the Army's backing called Defeat Don't Repeat to help prisoners and young people who…
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Making a Friend of Fear
Dina Rezk describes how she made a friend of fear following the murder of her mother. The trauma of her mother's violent sudden death risked leaving her with a crippling sense of fear which she called "the beast". Over time she has found an ultimately life affirming way to live with it. "My life...
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Our Lost Food Culture
Alastair Hendy explains why he thinks we've lost our food culture and how we can rediscover it. Remembering the seventies when convenience food was less available and it was normal to cook from scratch, he urges us to understand more about where our food comes from and calls for basic cookery...
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Being a Carer
Penny Wincer reflects on what it means to be a carer, drawing on her own and other people’s experiences. Especially during the pandemic when support services have been unavailable, it’s time, she argues, for society to take care of the carers. Presenter: Olly Mann Producer: Sheila Cook
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Four Thought have?
Four Thought currently has 380 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Four Thought about?
Series of thought-provoking talks in which the speakers air their thinking on the trends, ideas, interests and passions that affect culture and society
How often does Four Thought release new episodes?
Four Thought publishes regularly with 380 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
Where can I listen to Four Thought?
You can listen to Four Thought on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Four Thought?
Four Thought is created and hosted by BBC Radio 4.
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