Four Thought

Laiba Husain discusses life before, and after, marriage.A Fulbright Scholar from Michigan, Laiba studies at Birmingham University and has recently got married. She discusses how educated women in her family were expected to stay at home after marriage rather than pursuing careers and higher education. But how much is this due to patriarchal culture and religious misconceptions? Laiba argues that marriage and religion do not impede her ambitions; instead, she feels empowered. And she calls on Muslim women to embrace individual choice rather than being bound by cultural expectations.Producer: Peter Snowdon.

David Baker asks what happens to the families of people shot by the police.Over the years, he has spent time with many such families - bereaved, grieving, often angry - in the UK and overseas. In this powerful talk David reflects on his time with three families in the United States, and asks whether their experience - not just the loss of a relative but what happened afterwards - was exceptional, or sadly not.Producer: Peter Snowdon.

Felicity Boardman discusses genetic screening for 'serious conditions'.But what, she asks, is a 'serious condition'? The answer to that question will vary, and might increase as genomic medicine expands. The answer, too, will have dramatic consequences for which people we will accept as future members of our society, and which we will not. As a medical ethicist, and an Assistant Professor at Warwick Medical School, Felicity believes that individuals and families living with inheritable and screened-for conditions should be key to answering the question.Producer: Peter Snowdon.

Zia Chaudhry reflects on his role as a Muslim Dad to help his children to feel British, recalling his own father's focus on education as the path to success and integration. Schools could help, he believes, by including Muslim Spain in the history curriculum. "I am not advocating the teaching of Pakistani history to the children of Pakistani immigrants but rather the teaching of a chapter of European history in which Muslims co-operated with Christians and Jews to create a society that flourished on so many levels. What would be the effect on Muslim youngsters of a message reminding them of the great contributions to European civilisation made by their religious ancestors, other than perhaps to encourage them to seek an education so that they too can achieve and contribute to their society,?" Recorded in front of a live audience at Leaf in Liverpool. Presenter: Olly Mann Producer: Sheila Cook.

Julie White shares her passion for young children learning outdoors in the natural world as the best way for them to achieve wellbeing and develop resilience. "I think there is a big divide between the older generation and a lot of millennials in terms of our outdoor experiences growing up - whilst we had the freedom to explore our surroundings, younger generations have been accompanied by adults doing more structured and supervised activities. The result is a more fearful mentality, which we are in danger of perpetuating with the next generation. Finding a more natural way to educate our children seems to be gaining popularity with parents, but we need government and policy makers to really take this on board." Recorded at Leaf in Liverpool. Presenter: Olly Mann Producer: Sheila Cook.

David Reid warns of the dangers of encoding unconscious bias into artificial intelligence. "It's tempting, but extremely perilous, to outsource our moral responsibilities to machines...I believe it's important to keep people in the loop, but it may also be important to evolve nurturing AI to guide the underlying AI. When we link this to emotional awareness, we may be able to develop empathy, and this empathy may be able to mitigate bias." Recorded in front of a live audience at Leaf in Liverpool. Presenter: Olly Mann Producer: Sheila Cook.

Maggie O'Carroll calls for action to encourage more women to become entrepreneurs. She contrasts the "palpable positive culture towards entrepreneurship and for female entrepreneurs" of the US with a lack of organised support in the UK. Recalling her mother's success as a farmer in the West of Ireland, she feels sure there were other powerful women behind the scenes. "We need these invisible entrepreneurs to step out into the spotlight and become the role models and the inspiration for others to join them." Recorded at Leaf in Liverpool. Presenter: Olly Mann Producer: Sheila Cook.

Theatre maker Raquel Meseguer, who lives with chronic pain, has a vision for public resting spaces. Challenging our etiquette and perceptions of people lying down, she imagines how our cultural spaces might embrace 'Cloudspotters', her euphemism for people with hidden conditions like her own. "It was a lightbulb moment to realise that I am able, but I am also disabled by a built environment and vertical culture that is simply not designed for me... my lying down invariably proves problematic, and reveals strict etiquettes of our public spaces, and prejudice towards the simple act of lying down." "It was only by challenging etiquette that my world got bigger again." Recorded in front of a live audience at Somerset House in London. Presenter: Olly Mann Producer: Sheila Cook http://www.ovalhouse.com/whatson/detail/a-crash-course-in-cloudspottinghttps://uncharteredcollective.com/a-crash-course-in-cloudspotting/Photo credit: Paul Blakemore.

Young entrepreneur Bejay Mulenga tells the story of his youthful business success and shares his vision for helping other young people overcome the barriers to achieving their dreams. "I believe we'll have more entrepreneurs if talent can be unleashed earlier and helped to thrive." Recorded in front of a live audience at Somerset House in London. Presenter: Olly Mann Producer: Sheila Cook.

Former army intelligence officer Andy Owen explains why he thinks philosophy can help soldiers cope in complex war zones like Iraq and Afghanistan. "There's much on the counter-insurgency battlefield not fully covered by the law...philosophy provided arguments to support the law and navigate issues not covered by it." Recorded in front of a live audience at Somerset House in London. Presenter: Olly Mann Producer: Sheila Cook.