Four Thought

Harriet Beveridge says we don't take humour seriously enough and thinks it's a "woefully misunderstood and underused tool". She extols its power in managing human relationships, dealing with adversity and overcoming prejudice. "Cracking a joke is a hugely effective way to hold up a mirror, to challenge fixed ideas, because jokes shatter assumptions." Recorded in front of a live audience at Womad, the World of Music, Arts and Dance festival in Wiltshire. Presenter: Mark Coles Producer: Sheila Cook

Bex Burch, who plays and composes for the Ghanaian xylophone, explores the difference between 'doing' and 'being' as a source of creativity, and shows how it works in her music. "A great example of the difference between doing and being is that I don’t be, or become my teacher. I learn their way of doing something and still have to figure out who I am and what those tools are working with in me." Recorded in front of a live audience at Womad, the World of Music, Arts and Dance festival in Wiltshire.Presenter: Mark Coles Producer: Sheila Cook

Kevin Carr charts the agony of the first-time house buyer: is it worth the pain to avoid a lifetime of paying rent? "As you know, a mortgage is a loan where property is used as collateral. The first part of the word 'mort' is French for death, so named because trying to understand the process of getting a mortgage makes you want to die". Recorded in front of a live audience at the Kelburn Garden Party festival in Ayrshire. Presenter: Olly Mann Producer: Sheila Cook

Millennial Harleen Nottay says we should stop snooping and spying via social media on our partners, past and present, for the sake of our mental health. "It's clear that we are creating a culture where we are normalising these toxic behaviours...behaviours that only a couple of decades ago would have classed us as stalkers." Recorded in front of a live audience at the Kelburn Garden Party festival in Ayrshire. Presenter: Olly Mann Producer: Sheila Cook

R.M. Sánchez-Camus describes how art can be used as a language with which to communicate the fear of death and dying. Drawing on his experience as a Social Practice Artist working in a hospice, he reveals how art-making can create a space where individuals can mentally remove themselves from the state of dying, and produce a lasting testament to their lives. He believes death anxieties over global extinction can similarly be approached through making art. "It’s urgent to break the taboo of speaking about death. If we can hold this conversation within the community we can begin to support each other as citizens. Recorded in front of an audience at the Kelburn Garden Party festival in the grounds of Kelburn Castle in Ayrshire. Presenter: Olly Mann Producer: Sheila Cook

Author Zoë Strachan charts her journey of self-discovery through reading. She describes how fiction helped her to find her identity as a gay woman and explains why she believes that access to books is vital for human flourishing. "While I was reading Swallows and Amazons, booksellers were being arrested for making available the kind of texts that changed my life. When we start banning books or censoring them from school libraries, we deny people the chance to read themselves into being." Recorded in front of a live audience at the Kelburn Garden Party festival in the grounds of Kelburn Castle near Glasgow. Presenter: Olly Mann Producer: Sheila Cook

The Last Poets discuss why they're still performing after 50 years.The Last Poets were borne out of the origins of the civil rights movement in the United States. They have been writing and performing together in various formations ever since the late 1960s. Abiodon Oyewole and Umar Bin Hassan reveal the motivation behind the collective's work and why they feel they're message about black empowerment is as relevant today as it was in 1968.Recorded at the Shambala Festival.Producer: Peter Snowdon.

Sunday league football is played up and down the country. The writer Ewan Flynn says that forging a team spirit against the odds can bring out the best in people.Recorded at the Shambala Festival.Producer: Peter Snowdon

Julia Unwin asks whether we've lost the human touch in a world of automation and technology.Touch screens, contactless cards and e-tickets are supposed to make our lives so much easier and more convenient. Julia Unwin, former chief executive of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, asks whether technology and automation and the loss of those everyday human connections are harming the way we interact with each other. Producer: Peter Snowdon.

Ian Brennan is a Grammy award-winning music producer. He and his wife have travelled the world discovering music that most people have never heard. He argues that the 'West' and in particular English speaking countries have dominated music for so long they have drowned out voices from around the world. This includes the incredible story of the Tanzanian Albinism Collective, from one of the most isolated places on earth. The members have suffered persecution for years for their condition. Brennan describes how music has brought them together with their neighbours.