Last night was the Good Thinking Society‘s Science Blog Prize event, hosted by the Soho Skeptics. We’ll have full coverage on this week’s Pod Delusion (and possibly the full thing available to listen too) – but in the meantime here’s the moment the winners were announced by Simon Singh and Ben Goldacre.
The winners were (everyone already knows, right?) Suzi Gage and David Colquhoun!
So do follow us or subscribe to hear when Friday’s show will be out – with more!
WHAT?!
To celebrate our programme’s third birthday on September 15th – we’re hosting a big event in central London – and we’d love it if you could join us!
There will be a licensed bar. The official hashtag will be #poddelusion.
WHO?!
We’ll have an evening of interesting things featuring…
WHERE?!
The lovely folks at the, er, spiritual home of British secularism, Conway Hall are letting us put on the show in their massive hall.
(Nearest Tube: Holborn)
WHEN?!
7:30pm on the evening of Saturday September 15th – don’t worry, we’re planning this to not clash with the Secular Europe March if you’re going on that.
HOW?!
Tickets are £5.95 (including booking fee) and can be bought here!
Note: If you’re looking for this week’s podcast, you can find it below.
We’ll have full audio coverage of the event on next Friday’s show – but for now here’s a quick video report on the pro-choice protest held yesterday outside BPAS headquarters in London.
In a very chilly Westminster today a rally was held to defend freedom of expression. Organised by the One Law For All campaign, it brought together a number of groups and individuals including many university atheist societies, the BHA, NSS, Richard Dawkins, Nick Cohen, Joan Smith and AC Grayling.
You can hear further coverage of the recent free-speech cases that have provoked this rally on The Pod Delusion’s weekly programme…
Speakers listing…
We’re trying to crowdsource the names of speakers and their timing in the podcast above – so let us know in the comments below the speaker and the timecode if you happen to notice this.
So today we were at the March & Rally for a Secular Europe in London.
The following is a Pod Delusion Extra podcast of the rally in its entirety – take a listen!
Here’s some of the audio we posted throughout the day…
The first people were arriving:
Some right-wing secularists:
The AHS (Student Groups) Contingent:
Getting ready to set off on the march (ft National Secular Society Executive Director Keith Porteous Wood):
BHA Chief Executive Andrew Copson leading the chants as the march sets off:
The Pod Delusion’s Liz Lutgendorff starts a chant:
Chatting to David Pollock, President of the European Humanist Federation:
Drew from the Pagan Federation at the rally:
To celebrate The Pod Delusion’s second birthday we’re teaming up again with London Skeptics in the Pub and will be recording a live edition of the programme in LONDON! Do come along – we’ll have a number of great speakers talking on interesting things, topped off with some music by the amazing HELEN ARNEY, who you may remember from the Uncaged Monkeys Tour.
So if you like, science, skepticism, a bit of politics and some INTERESTING THINGS. Then come on down, it’ll be a great evening!
When?
Tuesday 13th September, 7pm
Where?
The Monarch Bar
40-42 Chalk Farm Road
Camden
London NW1 8BG
And if you’re coming, do tell us on the Facebook event or in the comments below:
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=224691614241155
Ay oop me duck, on the 16th August we’re doing a LIVE PODCAST RECORDING at Leicester Skeptics in the Pub. So if you’re in the Leicester area, put down your Walkers crisps, turn off the Kasabian and c’mon down to the Square Bar on Hotel Street at 7:30pm for an evening of interesting things.
Like our previous live shows, we’ll be following the usual format – but with the added bonus of a live audience. We’ll be teasing some of the topics we’ll be talking about nearer the time, but I can guarantee that it will be an eclectic mix and you’ll go away having learned something – not from me, but from our awesome contributors.
When?
Tuesday, August 16 at 7:30PM
Where?
Square Bar
5-9 Hotel Street
Leicester
LE1 5AW
See you there, yeah?
As you will have seen on the news on Wednesday, towards the end of the CMS Select Committee meeting in which Rupert and James Murdoch were being grilled by MPs, a protester named Jonnie Marbles got up and attempted to throw a shaving foam ‘pie’ into the face of Rupert Murdoch. A controversial act – and we are planning to be debating the merits of this direct action on tomorrow’s episode of The Pod Delusion. In the meantime though, here’s an exclusive interview with the man himself, Jonnie Marbles, in which he explains his motivations, how it happened, and whether he has any regrets doing it.
After listening, why not go and subscribe to the Pod Delusion on iTunes or via our Podcast Feed?
And don’t forget to follow The Pod Delusion on Facebook and Twitter for more interesting news, features and interviews!
News just in from the British Humanist Association. AC Grayling will not be taking up the Presidency of the BHA as he was expected to this weekend, because of the controversy surrounding his role in the new ‘New College of the Humanities’. Instead, current president Polly Toynbee will be staying on for a bit until they find someone new. We have previous covered Richard Dawkins’ comments on his role in the NCH on the Pod Delusion and will have further coverage on this week’s programme.
Here’s the BHA’s statement they’ve just released to their subscribers:
Anthony Grayling, the President-elect of the BHA, has decided to step down from that position and not to take office as President on 1 July.
In doing so Professor Grayling said, ‘It was an honour to be named President of the British Humanist Association and I very much looked forward to working alongside the staff and trustees over the next two years to promote Humanism – a vitally important task in today’s world. Unfortunately, I believe that controversy generated by activities in another area of my public life will make it difficult in the next two years for me to be the sort of President that I would like to be for the BHA and all its members and supporters. In deciding to stand down and let the Trustees of the BHA appoint an alternative President, I wish them all the best in their important task.’
Robert Ashby, Chair of the Trustees of the BHA, has responded, ‘We thank Anthony Grayling for the concern he has shown for the BHA and its work and regret the circumstances that have led him to step down as our President-elect. His decades of work in the causes that humanists espouse – secularism in our public life, freedom and human rights at home and globally, science and reason in our struggle to know the universe and humanity in our treatment of ourselves and other people – remain of great value.’
Polly Toynbee, currently President of the BHA, will continue as President until a new President is appointed by the Trustees later this year.
Many thanks to all of you for your ongoing support of the work of the BHA.
Tonight we’re backstage at the #twitterjoketrial Benefit Gig, speaking to some of the people involved with Paul Chambers’ case and some of the comedians and performers who will be appearing on stage. Stay tuned to this page for short audio interviews with those involved!
This player will contain the most recent interviews – use the left and right arrows in the top left of the player to navigate back and forth to other interviews.
Stay up to date with the latest interviews and backstage gossip by following The Pod Delusion on Facebook and Twitter.
If you’re new to The Pod Delusion, do subscribe to our podcast – it’s a weekly news-magazine about interesting things. You can find the podcast feed here or find us on iTunes here.
Interviews already recorded at time of writing this post:
Stephen Fry (The King of Twitter himself!)
Paul Chambers himself
David Allen Green (Paul’s Lawyer)
Graham Linehan (Creator of the IT Crowd & Co-Creator of Father Ted)
Rufus Hound
Katy Brand
You can find previous coverage of #twitterjoketrial on Pod Delusion Episode 59.
₤5/month: 
₤10/month:
₤15/month:
₤20/month:
One-off Donation:
Subscribe via:
The Pod Delusion is now broadcast on Resonance 104.4FM in London on Fridays at 1pm. You can find out more about Resonance FM and listen to their live stream on their website.
