Four Thought

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 convicting, sentencing, and acquitting offenders, many of his own age, to explain how he answers that question.Luke is introduced by host Olly Mann.Producer: Giles Edwards.

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

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 court. And so when she was asked to write about what happened to children when their mums were imprisoned, she assumed something similar would apply, or at least that she could find some research about what happened to them. She was shocked to find almost nothing, and even more shocked when she started doing the research herself.In this talk she describes some the change she believes is needed - from major institutions thinking properly about the problem, to the judgement children face from their schoolmates' parents, and how she works with judges and other criminal justice professionals to achieve it.Shona is introduced by host Olly Mann.Producer: Giles Edwards

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 lecture about the environment to a sea of faces all sipping coffee from plastic cups, to the challenges of winning over already hard-pressed colleagues, in this witty talk Tamsin describes the realities of climate activism on the NHS frontline. As she prescribes health interventions with positive side-effects for the planet, she offers a new way to talk about climate change.Tamsin is introduced by host Olly Mann.Producer: Giles Edwards

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 to improve equality and inclusion, to uncover the stories of historic characters who have positively impacted Britain, but for whatever reason remain unknown, unsung and unheralded." Dr Jak Beula is the founder and CEO of Nubian Jak, an African and Caribbean community organisation.Presenter: Olly Man Producer: Sheila Cook

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 changes that have led us to our present moment, where broadly speaking, British society no longer stigmatises people based on whether they were conceived in or outside of marriage but in the case of cohabiting heterosexual couples the giving of the father's surname remains the norm." Dr Helena Goodwyn is Vice-Chancellor's Senior Research Fellow in English Literature at Northumbria University. Presenter: Olly Mann Producer: Sheila Cook

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 might be at risk of offending to stay away from crime. Through presentations and a residential training course involving physical challenges and teamwork, he aims to communicate a message of hope. "I want to engage with people who share a similar background to me, who may have found themselves on the wrong side of the law and have now managed to turn their life around and move on to a successful path. This would demonstrate how it's possible to move on in life and make the ultimate change for the better." Presenter: Olly Mann Producer: Sheila Cook

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 force had to match its presence. I had to exist in conversation with it rather than deny or repress its existence." Dr Dina Rezk is Associate Professor and lecturer in Middle Eastern History at the University of Reading. She is also a Radio 3 New Generation Thinker. Presenter: Olly Mann Producer: Sheila Cook

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 skills to be taught again in schools. Presenter: Olly Mann Producer: Sheila Cookaghendy.com

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

As one of Britain’s youngest imams, Sabah Ahmedi, of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community, is on a mission to overcome Islamophobia. Conversation, he believes, is the way to tackle misconceptions and prejudice surrounding Islam. A relaxed chat over a coffee is his ideal forum for answering difficult questions. Presenter: Olly Mann Producer: Sheila Cook

Adam Morse, who is registered blind, explains how he directed an award winning film by seeing differently. When he was diagnosed at the age of nineteen with a rare eye condition, he feared at first that his ambitions to act and direct might be thwarted. A decade later, his dreams are being fulfilled and he hopes to blaze a trail for other artists with disabilities. Presenter: Olly Mann Producer: Sheila CookAdam Morse @themorseforce

Ranjit Saimbi explains why he doesn't want to be defined by his cultural heritage.In this talk, by turns intimate, by turns expansive, Ranjit describes the disconnect he felt from the Sikh culture in which he was born and raised, and proclaims his wish to be able to assert his own identity, free both from the constraints of that community and those in the rest of society who wish to put him in a particular box.Producer: Giles Edwards

Anne-Marie Douglas discusses her own experience of empathy-infused services, and why we need to see more of them.Anne-Marie's charity, Peer Power, works with children, young people and adults who have experienced significant trauma and adversity, using an empathy-focused approach to support them. In this powerful, personal talk, she outlines how her own experiences prompted her to focus on this approach.Producer: Giles Edwards.

Lydia Furse looks at the personal and political benefits of playing women's rugby.Lydia has long played rugby, and in this passionate talk discusses the harmony of bodies working together, a well-executed try, and how being in a scrum has made her feel differently about her physical image. She argues that women's rugby - much more than a game - is empowerment, it is boundary breaking, and it needs to be feminist.Producer: Giles Edwards.

Rufaro Mazarura discusses what the graduating class of 2020 have learned from the pandemic.A year ago, Rufaro carefully marked 23rd March in her diary - the day on which she'd be printing out and handing in her final year dissertation, and starting the transition to her new life, out of full-time education. But when the day arrived, she instead submitted her dissertation by email, and travelled home on an empty train, arriving just before the coronavirus lockdown. Rufaro has always been interested in transitions, and so she decided to make a podcast about the experiences she had in common with fellow members of the Class of 2020. In this talk, Rufaro shares some of the insights which she gleaned, and in particular the way in which their proximity to the edge may have shaped their worldview.Producer: Giles Edwards

Ann Morgan, who read a book from every country in the world to broaden her homogeneous reading habits, commends the challenge of reading outside your comfort zone. "When you break out of that hall of mirrors and open yourself up to what the world's stories offer, amazing things can happen." Presenter: Olly Mann Producer: Sheila Cook

Sarah Corbett explains the power of 'craftivism', a form of activism which uses craft to create gentle protest. Activists craft objects which communicate respectful messages calling for social change. She explains how words embroidered on a handkerchief, for example, can be just as effective as louder forms of protest. Presenter: Olly Mann Producer: Sheila Cook

Tiffany Atkinson rehabilitates the concept of embarrassment, seeing its potential to be a positive force in social encounters, in contrast to the negative power of shame. "Sometimes shame may be appropriate, but we do not have to file all errors and pratfalls and misunderstandings under shame. Is this a healthy way to live with others? Would an embarrassment culture not be a useful counterbalance?"Presenter: Olly Mann Producer: Sheila Cook

Stephen Bourne thinks we are short changing young people by failing to teach them about the history of black Britons, especially their contribution in the armed forces and on the home front when Britain was at war. Their stories, he believes, deserve wider recognition. Presenter: OIlly Mann Producer: Sheila Cook