Four Thought

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 to allow our children to experienced managed risk they'll enter adulthood better prepared for life's challenges.

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.

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.

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.

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 societies today for how to deal with separation and difference.

Producer: Giles Edwards.

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: Giles Edwards.

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 financial terms, diminishing our shared social capital.

Producer: Giles Edwards.

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.

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.

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.