Four Thought

Lora Stimson uses sky and starscape to navigate her grief.

In this beautiful and emotional talk, recorded at the Green Man Festival in mid-Wales, appropriately enough an internationally-certified Dark Sky Reserve, Lora draws connections between the sky and her grief after her father's death.

Producer: Giles Edwards.

Rabab Ghazoul makes the case for Wales as a place of post-colonial possibility.

Rabab has been living in Wales for more than thirty years, and in this talk reflects on Wales's position as a nation which, as she puts it, "was colonised by the English, yes - but has also been complicit in the British imperial enterprise, and been a recipient of the wider European colonial project." As she does, she talks about the benefits of settling down, digging deep, and finding ourselves in the places that we choose to stay in.

Producer: Giles Edwards.

Rachael Gibbons discusses class, social mobility and Imposter Syndrome.

In a talk recorded at the Green Man Festival in mid-Wales, Rachael discusses her experiences as a working-class woman. She asks what social mobility means when you find it difficult to fit in at grammar school or university, while at home your friends do different things and you're no longer part of their circle. She tells stories about her imposter syndrome, and how she overcame it. But at the heart of her talk is another syndrome - the so-called 'Jonah Complex', where you're afraid of your own success. Rachael recognises this not just in herself, but in many of her working class friends, she reveals: a fear that success will alienate you from what and who you know and love.

Producer: Giles Edwards

Penny Andrews argues that thinking of political supporters as fans helps explain the current state of politics.

Penny is an academic and a serial fan - covering everything from David Bowie to Ed Balls. And in this energetic and witty talk Penny argues that many of the characteristics of fandom elsewhere - a rich interest, a wish to protect the sanctity of the fandom, and a refusal to tolerate criticism - also mark politics and political fans, whatever side they're on. And that understanding politics in this way may help us understand it better.

Producer: Giles Edwards

Emmanuel Ordóñez-Angulo asks whether Virtual Reality (VR) could be an 'empathy machine', and whether that would be a good thing.

Emmanuel is a former film-maker, and current philosopher, and in this rich talk, recorded at the Larmer Tree Festival, he uses both traditions to probe the reaches of human empathy. Can VR fulfil the promise, long-held by some filmmakers, to allow us to walk in the shoes of others, increasing empathy and demanding wide-ranging social change? Or is the very notion of walking in another's shoes flawed?

Producer: Giles Edwards

Richard Lynch-Smith argues that social workers need to be more open in acknowledging the role that poverty plays in the lives of the families with which they work.

Introducing us to several of his families, social worker Richard details the many ways, large and small, in which poverty affects their life experience. But he also reveals how these experiences are understood, and interpreted, by the state. Richard also describes the movement amongst social workers to acknowledge the role that poverty plays and explains what impact that might have.

Producer: Giles Edwards

Helen Cullen makes the case for the art of letter writing.

In this talk, recorded at the Larmer Tree Festival, Helen reveals how writing letters has been a constant throughout her life and discusses its importance in deepening her relationships with her friends, family and partner. Helen, a novelist whose first book revolved around letters, argues that those of us who have fallen out of the habit of writing letters, or never acquired it in the first place, should take up our pens. And she makes a bold promise to anyone who writes to her.

Producer: Giles Edwards

Historian Kasia Tomasiewicz discusses how to commemorate war.

Reporting for her first day shadowing the curatorial team at the Imperial War Museum, Kasia found herself conflicted. Feeling awe at the size of the tanks, planes and other machines of war, and remembering the pleasurable associations from Airfix kits and games with her siblings from her own childhood, she tried to balance these feelings with the awareness that the objects also embody death and destruction. How do these different responses affect what Kasia describes as the 'pleasure culture of war'?

Producer: Giles Edwards.

Liv Boeree explains why the thinking skills required for good poker playing translate so well to the real world.

Dr Mark Williams believes we need to preserve the traditional GP home visit. Alongside new acute visiting services and an emerging role for artificial intelligence, he thinks the traditional home visit still plays a vital part in the delivery of good healthcare and can even be a lifeline back into society. "The truth is that home visits give us the best insights into our patients' real life".