Four Thought

Clare Lockhart, co-founder and director of the Institute for State Effectiveness, talks about the need for a new model of engagement for the developing world to reduce dependence and build economic growth. Four Thought is a series of talks which combine thought provoking ideas and engaging storytelling. Recorded live in front of an audience at the RSA in London, speakers take to the stage to air their latest thinking on the trends, ideas, interests and passions that affect our culture and society.Producer: Sheila Cook.

Leadership coach Hilary Cottam, co-founder of Participle, unfolds her vision for re-designing the welfare state with participation, not passivity, at its core. She tells the story of families whose lives have been transformed though their own involvement in making decisions about the help being provided for them.Four Thought is a series of talks which combine thought provoking ideas and engaging storytelling. Recorded live in front of an audience at the RSA in London, speakers take to the stage to air their latest thinking on the trends, ideas, interests and passions that affect our culture and society.Producer: Sheila Cook.

Matthew Engel charts the growth of Americanisms in the English language and explains why, as a former Washington correspondent, he thinks this is now a serious problem. Four Thought is a series of talks which combine thought provoking ideas and engaging storytelling. Recorded live in front of an audience at the RSA in London, speakers take to the stage to air their latest thinking on the trends, ideas, interests and passions that affect our culture and society.Producer: Sheila Cook.

Writer and cabaret artist Penny Pepper gives her perspective on human identity from her personal experience as a disabled person and wheelchair user. Four Thought is a series of talks which combine thought provoking ideas and engaging storytelling. Recorded live in front of an audience at the RSA in London, speakers take to the stage to air their latest thinking on the trends, ideas, interests and passions that affect our culture and society. Producer: Sheila Cook.

Danny Kruger is the founder of Only Connect - a charitable arts company working with prisoners, ex- offenders and young people at risk of crime.He calls for a re-evaluation of the purpose of punishment, treating retribution and rehabilitation as two separate objectives whose current confusion serves neither the criminal, nor the victim nor the wider interests of justice.Four Thought is a series of talks which combine thought provoking ideas and engaging storytelling. Recorded live in front of an audience at the RSA in London, speakers take to the stage to air their latest thinking on the trends, ideas, interests and passions that affect our culture and society. Producer: Sheila Cook.

Former England cricketer Ed Smith argues that too much professionalism in sport and in other areas of life spoils rather than promotes the chance of success.Four Thought is a series of talks which combine thought provoking ideas and engaging storytelling. Recorded live in front of an audience at the RSA in London, speakers take to the stage to air their latest thinking on the trends, ideas, interests and passions that affect our culture and society.Producer: Sheila Cook.

Biologist Professor Steve Jones reflects on the legacy of the father of eugenics, Francis Galton, and warns against the danger of overstatement by geneticists.Four Thought is a series of taks which combine thought provoking ideas and engaging storytelling. Recorded live in front of an audience at the RSA in London, speakers take to the stage to air their latest thinking on the trends, ideas, interests and passions that affect our culture and society.Producer: Sheila Cook.

Professor Felipe Fernandez-Armesto explodes what he sees as the newly revived myth of the Protestant work ethic and debunks cultural explanations for economic progress or decline in different parts of the world.Four Thought is a series of talks which combine thought provoking ideas and engaging storytelling. Recorded live in front of an audience at the RSA in London, speakers take to the stage to air their latest thinking on the trends, ideas, interests and passions that affect our culture and society.Producer: Sheila Cook.

Anne Applebaum, the author of "Gulag", asks how governments can best compensate victims of former repressive regimes and turn secret police records into meaningful archives. Four Thought is a series of talks which combine thought provoking ideas and engaging storytelling. Recorded live in front of an audience at the RSA in London, speakers take to the stage to air their latest thinking on the trends, ideas, interests and passions that affect our culture and society.Producer: Sheila Cook.

Philip Cowley examines how politicians have changed and using letters from leading politicians he argues politicians today compare favourably to those of the 1950s. Plus, he has a small confession to make...Recorded live at the RSA in London, Four Thought is unscripted, thought-provoking and entertaining, with a personal dimension.Producer: Giles Edwards.