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.

You can hear further coverage of the recent free-speech cases that have provoked this rally on The Pod Delusion’s weekly programme…

• Episode 121 – Talking Blasphemy with Maryam Namazie
• Episode 120 – Jesus and Mo at the LSE with Chris Moos
• Episode 118 – Jesus & Mo at UCL ft the creator of Jesus & Mo!

Speakers listing…

• Anne Marie Waters from One Law For All (4:50)
• AC Grayling (8:15)
• Maryam Namazie reading a statement on behalf of the creator of Jesus & Mo (11:30)
• Keith Porteous Wood from the National Secular Society (14:42)
• Nick Doody (17:35)
• Nick Cohen (20:35)
• Rhys Morgan (26:10)
• Jennifer Hardy, President of Queen Mary Atheist Society (31:25)
• Jim Fitzpatrick MP (33:40)
• Jenny Bartle, President of the AHS (35:15)
• Susan Zuang, from UCL Atheist Society (36:10)
• Baroness Cox (39:30)
• Rupert Sutton from Student Rights (42:15)
• Richard Dawkins (44:02)
• Kate Smurthwaite
• Faisal Gazi
• Derek Lennard from GALHA, the Gay & Lesbian Humanist Assocation
• Sue Cox from Survivors’ Voice Europe
• Pragna Patel from Southall Black Sisters
• Marco Tranchino from Central London Humanists Group (87:30)
• Mark Embleton from Atheism UK (90:20)
• Chris Moos reading a message from Andrew Copson, head of the British Humanist Association
• Gita Sahgal from Centre for Secular Space (96.25)
• Roger Farrington of the Sheffield Humanist Society reading a message from Roy Brown from the International Humanist and Ethical Union (105:07)
• Joan Smith
• Maryam Namazie from One Law For All

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.

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:

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

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

• Download iCalendar file (e.g. import to Outlook or Google Calendar)
• Add yourself to the Facebook Event here.

Where?
Square Bar
5-9 Hotel Street
Leicester
LE1 5AW

See you there, yeah?

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!

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.

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.

We’ve managed to get the scoop and The Pod Delusion’s Sean Ellis spoke to him yesterday about why he decided to resign in such spectacular fashion. It’s worth noting that the Daily Star themselves refute many (if not all) of the allegations Rich makes so this should only be considered to be Rich’s account of what his time at the paper was like. You can read their full riposte at the bottom of the page on here.

Note: We’ve put this on the Pod Delusion Extra feed as a shorter version of this interview will appear in Friday’s normal Pod Delusion programme. You can find out how to subscribe to Pod Delusion Extra here.

If you’re new here, why not check out our normal weekly Pod Delusion programme?

(We might have a higher quality one up later). We’ll also hopefully have some coverage on the regular Pod Delusion podcast (check out the latest show by the way). Also, do check out last year’s 1023 special on the event in London which made news all around the world.

What?

A live recording of your favourite podcast about interesting things, in a pub, in Southampton! It’ll be like the regular show, but hopefully in front of you. You can hear our previous live shows here and here.

When?

26th February at 7pm.

Where?

The HighField Pub, 47 Highfield Lane, SO17 1QD, Southampton, United Kingdom

Who?

A selection of Pod Delusion regulars, and some local speakers from Southampton and the Atheist Society. Don’t worry, it won’t all be God-bashing despite it being the atheist society – it’ll be our usual mixture of things. We will also be joined by the Amateur Transplants, who will be playing some songs for us!

How can I tell you I’m coming?

Post a comment below or sign up on our Facebook Event here.

So why not call and leave Andy a voicemail? Simply follow these instructions:

1. Dial 02033842843.
2. When prompted for a registered number, enter 8679 followed by the # (hash) key.
3. When prompted for a PIN number, enter 5555

We’re hoping to hear from everyone Coulson might interact with – government departments, journalists, politicians – even some celebrities, so if you’re one of them or think you can pretend to be one of these things, give ‘Andy’ a call. We’ll play the funniest on Friday’s show. Listen to voicemails Andy has already received by clicking the “read more” link (or scrolling down if you’re already on the page!):

NB: Just to clarify for anyone angry who might be reading, these are all meant a humorous parodies, and are in no way making allegations about the real Andy Coulson!

Exciting news, folks! As you hopefully know by now, this February is the QED Conference in Manchester. It’s going to be brilliant – confirmed speakers so far include people like Jon Ronson, Simon Singh and Robin Ince. We’ve been talking about it on the show for a while now as our friends at the Merseyside Skeptics Society and Greater Manchester Skeptics are running it. But this post isn’t just an advert – it contains exciting news. I can reveal that we’ll be recording a live Pod Delusion at the conference – in front of an audience that will hopefully include you.

So if you’re attending the conference – please do come and watch our recording. If it’s anything like our previous live shows, it should be great fun!

Also! We’d like to feature some of the people attending the conference on our live show – so if you’re attending, and have a burning issue you’d like to highlight, or would like to shout your mouth off about something, do get in touch and tell us what you’d like to talk about! Get in touch on qed@poddelusion.co.uk or tweet us @poddelusion.

• Sign up to this Facebook Event to let us know that you’re coming!

What?

The same show you know and hopefully love – different interesting topics linked together by myself. It will possibly have a bit of a festive theme, what with it being a Christmas show. Or might not.

When?

December 14th 2010 at 7pm (ish… make sure you’re there at 7. Not sure if we’ll kick off 7 or 7:30 yet).

Where?

The Roebuck Inn, 57 Stockbridge Road, Winchester, SO22 6RP, United Kingdom

Who?

We haven’t fully decided the line-up just yet, but it’ll be some of the Pod Delusion’s regular contributors, and maybe some other people too!

How?

Stereotypical American Indians will be welcome at the event, as we don’t discriminate.

Tell us you’re coming so we don’t worry that no-one will turn up:

• Our Facebook Event
• Winchester Skeptics Facebook Event (sign up to both if you like)
• Tell us in the comments below!

I didn’t though, manage to bump into a couple of important people whilst there. First of all, founder of the JREF who run TAM, the Amazing James Randi himself:

And then current JREF President DJ Grothe, who we last interviewed just after he started as President back in January. I spoke to him about the new JREF UK plans…

Both will be in the show on Friday, but I’m sharing them now as I can’t wait!

So the rally is now over and we’ve got lots of coverage for you. First up, here’s the full two hours of speeches that were given at the rally – voices include Dr Evan Harris, Imran Khan, Simon Singh, Dr Petra Boynton, and Colin Blakemore:

We also did lots of live updates throughout the day…

Setting up:

A troublemaker?

Speaking to an astronomer:

More scientists:

Walking & Talking:

Some Oxford students:

Dr Michael Brooks sticks it to David Tredinnick:

The head of the Prospect Trade Union:

The “Science Supremes” singing “Hey Osbourne!”

Imran Khan, head of CaSE:

Dr Evan Harris’s tribute to Pink Floyd’s ‘Another brick in the wall’ (no, really):

Ben Goldacre:

The Aftermath:

And do listen to yesterday’s episode of The Pod Delusion for more of This Sort Of Thing.

We’ll have interviews and stuff with some of the people who made up the crowd of 20,000 on Friday’s show. This raw recording will <b>not</b> be available on the normal Pod Delusion feed – so you’ll have to listen to it here!

Oh, and do check out our Relief-O-Matic special and our first birthday Pod Delusion Live show.

As you might have heard on our latest episode, for the Pod Delusion’s first birthday we’re doing a live recording of the show at London Skeptics in the Pub. Sid, the SITP organiser has kindly offered us a slot in September so do come along and watch and possibly take part. Unlike the regular show, which is put together in my bedroom, we’ll be doing it all live in front of an audience. We don’t know what the exact line-up will be yet, but it’ll follow the usual format – so expect lots of short and interesting chatter, and we’ll probably open bits and pieces up for Q&As. And besides – it’s the show’s birthday, so come and celebrate with us!

When? 14th September 2010 at 7pm

Where? The Monarch Pub, Camden

If you’re coming, let us know on Facebook!

Listen to the full thing below:

For further coverage on libel reform, you might enjoy previous episodes of The Pod Delusion.

We want you to nominate a person/organisation/thing that should receive the Pod Delusion 2009 Listeners’ Award – someone who best sums up what the whole show is about, and has done the most to further the values and ideas associated with the show (and perhaps who does it without sounding as amazingly pretentious as that description does). So if you’ve got someone in mind, nominate by clicking HERE. The winner will be announced on the next show, that will hopefully be online on either the 27th or 28th December!