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Seen & Unseen Aloud
Christmas Countdown Day 23: The Advent poets who can’t wait till the world is sane
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Day 23: Beatrice Scudeler takes us through poems by Tennyson, Eliot, Rossetti and L’Engle, to discover their claim that at Christmas, sorrow doesn’t preclude joy.
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1st December 2025: MI6; Elon Musk & the price of parenthood
21:12|This episode finds George Pitcher taking us backstage at MI6; Sam Tomin asks Elon Musk the trillion dollar question and Imogen Ball tracks just how much it costs to have children
24th November 2025: Alan Bennett; Rationality and the Budget
27:24|This week we start with Roger Standing's review of Alan Bennett's latest film, The Choral; then Alister McGrath unpacks the terrain between the "Age of Reason" and the era of "post-truth" and finally Annika Greco Thompson discusses the possible Christian response to financial (in)security, in the lead up to the UK's Chancellor announcing the Autumn Budget.
17th November 2025: BBC, bequeathing and being still
27:49|This week, Tim Wyatt dives into the crisis of trust and asks whether the resignations from the hierarchy will serve to rekindle trust in the BBC; Annika Greco Thompson encourages us to pass on our values as well as our wealth to the next generation and Helen Cowan poignantly explores the power of different types of stillness within wellness and illness that she witnesses as a care home nurse.
10th November 2025: Shame, Remembrance and Alice Roberts
26:59|In this week's episode, Belle Tindall considers both Jacob Elordi and Zadie Smith's take on shame, and presents her own; Henna Cundill asks why too much emotional expression seems to be frowned upon at Remembrance and the Cenotaph; Jonathan Rowlands gives his personal (and very strong) opinions on Alice Roberts' book Domination: The Fall of the Roman Empire and the Rise of Christianity
3rd November 2025: Eccles, Older Brothers and a King & a Pope
29:47|This week, Derek Hughes tells the story of how a tiny congregation in a forgotten town tried something that changed their community for the better; Will Fagan watches Peaky Blinders and House of Guinness, to see how Steven Knight shows being needed—not being perfect—transforms people; and Graham Tomlin unpacks the historical significance and the cultural hope of King Charles and the Pope praying together
27th October 2025: shifting seasons; Ruth & Boaz and Big Tech
18:05|In this episode Rachael Newham considers the seasons and what we can learn from embracing the changes; Giles Gough reviews the Netflix movie version of the biblical story of Ruth & Boaz; Jean Kabasomi takes us through her experiences of Big Tech and asks whether we are being gaslit into waste
20th October 2025: a Wild Belle, Sarah Mullally and Defending our Girls
22:30|In this episode, Jonathan Evens takes us to Union Chapel where Natalie Bergman's soul-soaked set turned personal tragedy into communal celebration; George Pitcher evokes historical precedent for why Sarah Mullally’s appointment as Archbishop of Canterbury is about more than just breaking the stained-glass ceiling and Belle Tindall passionately suggests that “Defending our girls” is less about safety, more about scapegoating (please be aware of potentially triggering content in this last article).
13th October 2025: Taylor Swift; the ABC & the Anti-Christ
21:48|This episode takes us from Belle Tindall's review of Taylor Swift's new album, via Jack Nicholson talking about Peter Thiel and the Anti-Christ, to Graham Tomlin's advice to the new Archbishop of Canterbury
6th October 2025: Sacraments at Anfield; behaviour at the Ryder Cup & thinking in cafés
21:49|In this week's episode, Jonathan Rowlands explores the relationship between trauma and sacraments as he visits Anfield; Graham Tomlin asks whether a loss of an "ultimate" is the reason behind the recent behaviour at the Ryder Cup and Joshua Nurcombe-Pike explores the big thinking that goes on in the midst of cafe culture.