Things Unseen
210 episodes - English - Latest episode: about 2 months ago - ★★★★★ - 7 ratingsThings Unseen grapples with a spiritual climate that no longer conforms to orderly patterns – with fewer of us attracted to formal religion, but many still believing that there’s more out there than meets the eye. Thought-provoking speech radio for people of faith – and those who just feel intrigued by the spiritual dimension to life.
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Episodes
ARCHIVE: BUERK MICHAEL BUERK ON THE COLORADO KILLER
July 26, 2012 13:23 - 3 minutes - 3.47 MB‘Obama promised “out of this darkness a brighter day will come”; it won’t, of course, because he won’t do anything about guns and the culture of his society which, like ours, is becoming ever more infantile.’ Image courtesy of esc.ape(d) via flickr.com ©©
ARCHIVE: MICHAEL BUERK ON A DESPICABLE HISTORY
July 18, 2012 16:21 - 3 minutes - 3.15 MBMoral relativism of the worst kind: ‘lecturing others on human rights, while trying to escape responsibility for our abuse of them’.
ARCHIVE: MICHAEL BUERK ON ANDY MURRAY‘S SOB STORY
July 12, 2012 12:58 - 3 minutes - 3.21 MB‘Self-control used to be a virtue. Now it’s thought of as dysfunctional. If we don’t display our feelings, it’s assumed we don’t have any’. Image courtesy of Nick J Webb via flickr.com ©©
ARCHIVE: MICHAEL BUERK SKEWERS FIFTY SHADES OF GREY
July 04, 2012 15:45 - 3 minutes - 3.2 MB‘Our rubbish tells more about us than our art, and so it is with this ‘puerile tripe and mummy porn’ Image courtesy of crawford.I via flickr.com ©©
ARCHIVE: MICHAEL BUERK ON ARGENTINA’S ‘BREATHTAKING HYPOCRISY’
June 28, 2012 16:28 - 2 minutes - 2.86 MBAs its President accuses Britain of ‘naked colonialism’. This from a country of European immigrants ‘whose national policy has been to wipe out all trace of the people they snatched it from’. Image courtesy of ¡Que comunismo! via flickr.com ©©
ARCHIVE: SAME-SEX MARRIAGES: EQUAL RIGHTS OR ‘PURE POLITICS’?
June 27, 2012 09:44 - 20 minutes - 12.9 MBDavid Cameron supports it, Nick Clegg says ‘when’ not ‘if’, the Churches worry about canon law and sin, and gays are split between ‘bring it on’ and ‘this is not the time’. Heat and light in our provocative and informative debate. Image courtesy of Guillaume Paumier via flickr.com ©©
ARCHIVE: MICHAEL BUERK ON THE EXHIBITION OF INVISIBLE ART
June 21, 2012 14:28 - 3 minutes - 3.16 MB‘leaving judgment, intellect, and common sense at the door, and Instead fitting in with the vacuous as they glorify the vacant’. Image courtesy of Damien Cugley via flickr.com ©©
ARCHIVE: MICHAEL BUERK ON THE CASE FOR ‘UNIVERSAL’ BENEFITS
June 15, 2012 11:39 - 3 minutes - 2.97 MB.....’partly selfish, partly economic, but especially moral: it’s about justice, social solidarity, and incentivising virtue’ Image courtesy of IanVisits via flickr.com ©©
ARCHIVE: MICHAEL BUERK ON MORMON MITT ROMNEY
June 07, 2012 17:13 - 3 minutes - 3.2 MB'It's one thing believing what is inherently unlikely, but what about believing something absolutely, obviously, and provably wrong?' Image courtesy of More Good Foundation via flickr.com ©©
ARCHIVE: TREVOR BARNES ON ‘HATE’ CRIMES THAT AREN’T
June 01, 2012 16:00 - 3 minutes - 2.92 MBPublic busybodies delight in the depletion of our vocabulary and the policing of our thoughts. ‘It impoverishes us all’. Image courtesy of puuikibeach via flickr.com ©©
ARCHIVE: TREVOR BARNES ON AN UNEXPECTED (AND UNWANTED) GIFT
May 24, 2012 14:00 - 3 minutes - 3.12 MBThe King James Bible to every school ...’an empty gesture, potentially divisive, and a thinly-disguised attempt to tell teachers what to teach’. Image courtesy of bookchen via flickr.com ©©
ARCHIVE: TREVOR BARNES ON WHY INSULTS ARE GOOD FOR US
May 17, 2012 15:55 - 3 minutes - 3.1 MB‘In a healthy democracy, it’s every citizen’s right to be insulted... Freedom of speech is at stake here’ Image courtesy of Stephen Dagnall via flickr.com ©©
ARCHIVE: BUT THEY ARE ONLY RUSSIANS
May 16, 2012 14:05 - 13 minutes - 10.4 MBJohn Sweeney visits Ukraine to recall Stalin’s great famine with aged survivors, and to tell the story of two journalists – one who lied and won the Pulitzer, one who told the truth and was killed.
ARCHIVE: TREVOR BARNES ON THE APPEARANCE OF ROBOCOP
May 04, 2012 10:06 - 3 minutes - 3.03 MBThe pending Olympics are ‘an excuse for normalising the deployment of Action-men and women packing more heat than soldiers in Afghanistan’. [Image courtesy of Trojan631 via flickr.com ©©]
ARCHIVE: TREVOR BARNES ON ‘THE FRIGHTENERS’ BEING PUT ON US ALL...
April 30, 2012 09:28 - 3 minutes - 3.83 MBOur children are in danger, yes, but ‘from the jobsworth’s mindset, and from the rule book untempered by common sense’
ARCHIVE: TREVOR BARNES ON WHY WE SHOULD BE ON OUR GUARD
April 19, 2012 14:57 - 3 minutes - 2.67 MB‘I hate cigarettes, but as they’re legal people must be allowed to smoke them whether or not it hastens disease...’ Politicians should not intervene.
ARCHIVE: JULIE BINDEL ASKS WHY SO MANY BENEFITS FOR PARENTS
April 13, 2012 08:58 - 2 minutes - 1.66 MB‘I often think that smug mums and dads will soon insist on pushchair lanes so that they don’t have to bother with us childless pavement pests’
ARCHIVE: JULIE BINDEL ON AN 'UNJUSTIFIABLE PROTECTION'
April 05, 2012 10:41 - 2 minutes - 2.38 MBThe mother of the Yorkshire Ripper’s last victim discovered the police cannot be sued for negligence. 28 years later, the situation is the same. This is a scandal – not least for rape victims, who are often not believed.
ARCHIVE: COLD WAR SYMBOL FOR A GENERATION part 2
March 23, 2012 11:49 - 11 minutes - 7.16 MBThe Berlin Wall, guarded for 28 years, saw many violent deaths and many ingenious escapes. Gerry Northam reports.
ARCHIVE: COLD WAR SYMBOL FOR A GENERATION part 1
March 23, 2012 11:37 - 8 minutes - 5.9 MBHow and why the Berlin Wall went up 50 years ago.
ARCHIVE: JULIE BINDEL ON THE WAR IN AFGHANISTAN
March 14, 2012 17:00 - 3 minutes - 2.69 MBHundreds of troops die, yes, but thousands of civilians. And what do those soldiers – 404 so far – die for, exactly? [Image courtesy of AghanistanMatters via flickr.com ©©]
ARCHIVE: JULIE BINDEL ON WHY PAYING FOR SEX IS WRONG
March 09, 2012 10:28 - 3 minutes - 2.69 MB‘Prostitution is a cause and consequence of women’s inequality... Men need to be educated out of the belief that paying for sex can ever be a right’. [Image courtesy of Cédric Puisney via flickr.com ©©]
ARCHIVE: TREVOR BARNES ON HEALTH AND SAFETY 'MADNESS'
March 02, 2012 15:47 - 3 minutes - 2.08 MBWhere exactly was common-sense while 'appropriately-trained personnel' had to be summoned to fish the body out of three feet of water? [Image courtesy of Tomorrow Never Knows via flickr.com ©©]
ARCHIVE: ASSISTED DYING DIGNITY IN DEATH OR SOCIAL PESSIMISM?
February 28, 2012 18:01 - 17 minutes - 11 MBThe clash on a call for legalised assisted dying, without fear of prosecution
ARCHIVE: IMMIGRATION OPEN HOUSE OR CLOSED DOOR
February 27, 2012 13:15 - 15 minutes - 10.1 MBNet migration into Britain this year reached 250,000. On one side of the Immigration debate, capped levels, earned citizenship, ID cards, and annual migration reports - on the other, open borders, a welcome for all, a call to increase the size of the cake, a celebration of a multi-cultural society.... Emma Barnett interrogates David Goodhart, Director of the independent think-tank Demos, and Ceri Dingle, Director of Worldwrite, an education charity campaigning for global equality - and th...
ARCHIVE: TREVOR BARNES ON RICHARD DAWKINS
February 23, 2012 10:45 - 3 minutes - 2.74 MB‘God exists, or doesn’t. It’s a 50-50 shot. Dawkins can’t call believers stupid for having taken a punt; after all, he did’.
ARCHIVE: TREVOR BARNES ON UNIFORM MADNESS
February 15, 2012 17:04 - 3 minutes - 2.68 MB‘Gender specific school uniforms can cause serious distress’ – one more example of saying goodbye to reason and good sense. [Image courtesy of Chris Millett via Flickr.com ©©]
ARCHIVE: TREVOR BARNES ON SCHOOL LEAGUE TABLES
February 10, 2012 16:05 - 3 minutes - 2.89 MBPreventing ‘sneakily enhancing’ a school’s ranking with ‘soft’ subjects is a good move – but don’t put all the blame on schools
ARCHIVE: TREVOR BARNES LAMBASTS ‘MONEY-SAPPING’ OLYMPICS
February 02, 2012 16:26 - 3 minutes - 2.58 MB9 billion pounds for the sake of a tenth of a second, or a sponsorship deal... And, as for the ‘legacy’, well, just consider the fortunes of Greece. [Image courtesy of davehighbury via Flickr.com ©©]
ARCHIVE: TREVOR BARNES ON 'LUNATIC' WIND FARMS
January 26, 2012 15:40 - 2 minutes - 2.57 MB‘Did nobody tell the energy secretary that on many of the coldest days the wind does not blow? That the wind is not a reliable source of power?’ [Image courtesy of Davie Dunn via Flickr.com ©©]
ARCHIVE: BLOODY SUNDAY REMEMBERED VIRTUE DIXON
January 26, 2012 15:34 - 7 minutes - 5.42 MBDaughter killed. Born-again Christian who has forgiven those responsible. Mary Colwell reports.
ARCHIVE: BLOODY SUNDAY REMEMBERED JOHN KELLY
January 26, 2012 15:24 - 8 minutes - 5.88 MBBrother of Michael, 17, shot dead. He hasn’t forgiven the soldier responsible. Mary Colwell reports.
ARCHIVE: BLOODY SUNDAY REMEMBERED GERRY O'HARA
January 26, 2012 14:34 - 10 minutes - 6.73 MBBest friend killed next to him. Formerly commander of the junior wing of the IRA; now vice-chair of the Police Board. Mary Colwell reports.
ARCHIVE: BLOODY SUNDAY REMEMBERED - KATHLEEN TRACY
January 26, 2012 14:20 - 4 minutes - 3.27 MBHer brother was shot dead. Mary Colwell reports. [Image courtesy of Mary Colwell. All rights reserved. ©]
ARCHIVE: BLOODY SUNDAY REMEMBERED - ALASTAIR SIMPSON
January 26, 2012 14:14 - 8 minutes - 5.48 MBFormer General of the Apprentice Boys; today, lives in the all-Protestant The Fountain, set up after Bloody Sunday. Mary Colwell reports. [Image courtesy of Mary Colwell. All rights reserved. ©]
ARCHIVE: BLOODY SUNDAY REMEMBERED - JEANETTE WARKE
January 26, 2012 14:02 - 8 minutes - 5.47 MBForced out of her home in the unsettling days that followed; now a peace and reconciliation worker. Mary Colwell reports. [Image courtesy of Mary Colwell. All rights reserved. ©]
ARCHIVE: BLOODY SUNDAY REMEMBERED - PETER MCDONALD
January 26, 2012 14:00 - 5 minutes - 4.24 MBAt the age of 11, he saw the coffins lined up. He became an IRA activist; today, he’s a community development worker. Mary Colwell reports. [Image courtesy of Mary Colwell. All rights reserved. ©]
ARCHIVE: BLOODY SUNDAY REMEMBERED - RICHARD MOORE
January 26, 2012 13:48 - 12 minutes - 8.26 MBUncle shot dead; three months earlier he was blinded by a soldier’s rubber bullet. Founder of Children in Crossfire. Mary Colwell reports.
ARCHIVE: BLOODY SUNDAY REMEMBERED - KAY DUDDY
January 26, 2012 13:17 - 8 minutes - 5.85 MBSister of victim Jackie, whose body was carried by friends and priest Edward Daley, waving a white handkerchief. Mary Colwell reports.
ARCHIVE: BLOODY SUNDAY REMEMBERED: EDWARD DALY
January 26, 2012 12:01 - 10 minutes - 6.86 MBThe priest who administered the last rites to victim Jackie, 17, amidst gunfire. An iconic photograph captured the scene. Mary Colwell reports. [Image courtesy of Mary Colwell. All rights reserved.]
ARCHIVE: WENDY ROBBINS ON ABU QATADA
January 19, 2012 16:30 - 3 minutes - 2.61 MBA senior judge calls Muslim preacher Abu Qatada ‘a truly dangerous individual’, yet still we cannot insist that he is exported and tried in his home country... [Image courtesy of :Dar via Flickrr.com©©]
ARCHIVE: WENDY ROBBINS ON THE RACISM WE IGNORE
January 12, 2012 14:39 - 3 minutes - 2.81 MBAt a time when racism is in the headlines, why the media silence on ‘disturbing instances of racism against Jews’?
ARCHIVE: HAITI’S RELIGIOUS CLASH
January 12, 2012 10:36 - 13 minutes - 8.7 MBAid goes to Evangelicals, not us, accuses voodoo leader. In the rebuilding after the earthquake, Evangelicals bring aid to a country said to be 80 per cent Catholic and 100 per cent Voodoo. With very mixed results. Edward Stourton reports.
ARCHIVE: WENDY ROBBINS ON PROTECTING OUR KIDS
January 05, 2012 16:08 - 3 minutes - 2.66 MBWENDY ROBBINS ON PROTECTING OUR KIDS ... from sexually-explicit songs in the charts ‘My children are 7, 9, 12. They singalong to pop song lyrics like “‘sex in the air, I don’t care’. I don’t want them hearing this stuff; they don’t have the emotional maturity. Can’t the broadcasters give a lead here?’
ARCHIVE: GLOBAL WARMING: DOES IT MATTER?
December 15, 2011 17:42 - 19 minutes - 12 MBGLOBAL WARMING: DOES IT MATTER? The clash between reducing emissions and development. A climate summit in Durban has ended with agreement to bring down carbon emissions to save the planet. A deadline of 2020 could yet prove a cop-out. But do we need to be so concerned about emissions? Is fear of global warming holding back much-needed development? Emma Barnett interrogates George Monbiot, environmental activist, and Claire Fox, director of the British think-tank, the Institute of Idea...
ARCHIVE: ART OF COMPLAINING
December 15, 2011 16:59 - 8 minutes - 5.54 MBComplaining is part and parcel of our everyday existence. Usually it’s personal, trivial, and not to be taken seriously. But sometimes it’s bigger than that. The question is: are there any tips for making sure our legitimate complaints are not only noted, but also acted upon? The answer is: Yes. Dougal Patmore finds out what they are – along the way meeting the man who sealed his letters of complaint with a loving kiss, and the choir whose members complained distinctively and effectively...
ARCHIVE: MICHAEL BUERK ON THE CLIMATE SUMMIT
December 08, 2011 15:26 - 3 minutes - 2.93 MBSo why no debate on the assumptions behind the more apocalyptic forecasts? Example: the UN forecast 50 million climate refugees by 2010 – where are they?
ARCHIVE: MICHAEL BUERK ON THE BIG PHARMA
December 08, 2011 15:01 - 3 minutes - 2.68 MBTo worry about our NHS medical records being handed over to drug companies is not naive left-wing rights rhetoric.We need reassuring that ‘we’re not going to end up as lab rats’.
ARCHIVE: WHAT THE PROTESTERS ARE SAYING...
December 05, 2011 15:22 - 7 minutes - 5.07 MBOccupy London protests… the birth of people-powered politics? A gathering of non-toilet trained hippies? Or one expression among many from people who ‘feel cheated’? Louisa Bolch decides. [Image Courtesy of Wheelzwheeler via Flickr.com ©©]
ARCHIVE: MICHAEL BUERK ON THE FAT TAX
December 01, 2011 16:58 - 3 minutes - 2.71 MBBritain is the fat champion of Europe; the PM is considering a so-called fat tax. But it’s our choice, it’s our business, it’s not the government’s job to tell us how to eat. It’s another example of our ‘nanny knows best’ culture.e. [Image Courtesy of Tobyotter via Flickr.com ©©]