This year’s BBC Reith lectures make fascinating listening for anyone engaged in regeneration. They deal with global issues, but the parallels with local problems in the UK are striking. The lecturer is Jeffrey Sachs, economist and director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University. And whatever you think of his economics, his overriding theme is that human beings can join together to deal with the apparently overwhelming challenges to their survival: overpopulation, disease, poverty, conflict, the pursuit of wealth. Julian Dobson, editorial director, New Start Online magazine