Radio

Although the headlines majored on the BBC's fearful relationship with Islam, there was another point hidden in the BBC director general's speech to the Theos Christian thinktank this week, and it is just as disturbing.

Those of us who have wondered why there is such a ridiculous excess of religion on the BBC now have the answer. It is because Mark Thompson, an enthusiastic Catholic, wants it. Thompson is a great proselytiser for his faith in the mould of Lord Reith, who thought the BBC was "the nation's church". And, of course, the BBC gives him a very big pulpit to preach from – one that reaches into just about every home in the country, and which we all have to pay for.

Terry Sanderson: The BBC's director-general holds non-believers in contempt | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk.

Radio 4 joins CERN on 10 September 2008 as scientists attempt to discover more about the origins of the Universe by recreating the aftermath of the Big Bang. The experiment is one of the most complex and significant of modern times - and one that raises a lot of questions!

A new feature on BBC Radio Suffolk’s website by Andrew Woodger includes references to Humanism.

More people have been going to church in Suffolk, but the diocese has concerns that it may be a blip in the face of long-term decline. However, Muslims say they're buoyant in the county, as do the humanists who don't have any faith in a god.

Labour MP Tom Harris caused a row … when he said people should stop being so "bloody miserable" and appreciate what they have. Philosopher Julian Baggini considers whether we are a nation of whingers and asks if that is such a bad thing anyway.

This was supposed to be broadcast on BBC Radio Suffolk on 12 February 2008, after being recorded. I didn’t hear it, so I’m not sure if anyone else did.

Today is Darwin Day, the 199th anniversary of the birth of Charles Darwin, the man who first described biological evolution via natural selection. On Darwin Day we celebrate the enormous benefits that scientific knowledge, acquired through human curiosity and ingenuity, has contributed to the advancement of humanity, and in particular we celebrate the achievements of a great man.

If he were alive today, I‘m sure Darwin would be fascinated by the current BBC TV series, Life in Cold Blood, with Sir David Attenborough, some of which was filmed on the Galapagos Isles, where he made the discoveries that sowed the seeds of doubt about the conventional biblical explanation for the origin of life.

Thought for the Day, BBC Radio Suffolk, Saturday 2 February 2008

Thirty-odd years ago, I met a suffragette. She’d known the Pankhursts – Emmeline and her daughter Christabel, who led the Women’s Social & Political Union, popularly known as suffragettes. Although Mrs Birnberg was an old woman when I met her, she still felt as strongly about women’s rights as she’d ever done and was scornful about the young women who didn’t use the vote that she and other women had fought for. I thought about her when, during election campaigns here in Suffolk, women would say they couldn’t be bothered to go and vote.

I make a mental note of new words I hear or read if I think they may come in useful. Last week someone used the word “anthropocentric”, and I had to look it up because it had been used in connection with Humanism.