Big Ideas Folgen

Is happiness the natural order of things and,  if so,  should you be worried if you’re not happy? Psychologist Paul Bloom says that happiness isn’t guaranteed if you only do the things you find instantly easy and pleasurable . He says happiness is on the other side of tough and uncomfortable challenges and experiences. The key is to find meaning and purpose in the challenge.

In a global community it’s more important than ever to understand what’s going on in the rest of the world. Despite instant communication over the internet there's nothing like the considered view of a seasoned foreign correspondent. They bring you the news from conflict zones, at high powered summits, or the views of ordinary citizens . But are they telling you the stories you want to hear?  Who sets the news agenda?

Much of medicine doesn’t do what it is supposed to do: improve health. That is the view of orthopaedic surgeon, Ian Harris. Ian believes too many drugs are being prescribed, too much surgery is being performed, and there are too many unhelpful tests, scans, and overdiagnosis. The 'business' of medicine, he says, is taking precedence over what the science tells us. We should go back to the first principles of the Hippocratic oath and ‘first, do no harm’.