Tag Archive for BHA

Episode 190 – 7th June 2013

We use SCIENCE to find out the difference between a geek and a nerd, why school admission by religion is wrong, why advertisers aren’t all out to control us and much more!



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Fair Admissions (2:01) by Liz Lutgendorff (ft Prof Ted Cantle)
John Carr is Wrong (11:10) by Kate Russell
Legal Aid (15:05) by Emma McClure
Carl Heneghan Interview (21:53) by Paul Hopwood
Advertising Conspiracy (36:46) by Koen VD
Parking Mad (43:36) by Paul Orton (ft Keith Porteous-Wood)
Geeks vs Nerds (51:51) by James O’Malley (ft Burr Settles)
The sketch at the end is by David Lovesy & Brian Two

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Episode 187 – 17th May 2013

MICHAEL GOVE SPECIAL! But don’t let that put you off. We’ve three pieces about the education secretary including an interview with the teacher Gove attacked for using Mr Men to teach history, a look at Gove’s approach to classic literature, and a piece on how he used PR surveys to justify policy. We also have some exclusive clips from an event celebrating the reform of the libel laws featuring the likes of Dara O’Briain, Nick Cohen, Brian Cox and many more.



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Mr Men History (2:36) by James O’Malley (ft Russel Tarr)
Gove and Prejudice (11:44) by Sean Ellis
Gove and One Poll (18:53) by Marsh
Libel Reform Celebration (28:01) by Liz Lutgendoff (ft Dave Gorman, Simon Singh, Chris French, Hardeep Singh, Brian Cox, Nick Cohen, Dara O’Briain and Evan Harris)
Cosmic Genome (36:48) by James O’Malley (ft Robin Ince and Trent Burton)
Humanist Weddings (45:51) by Blakeley Nixon (ft Pavan Dhaliwal)
Homosexuality and DSM (49:17) by Chris Chapman
The sketch at the end is by David Lovesy & Brian Two

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Episode 170 – 18th January 2013

Highlights from the Leveson debates, European secularist court victories, an atheist church, dodgy charity PR, and some burgers with horse in it.



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The Leveson Debate Highlights (1:24) by Liz Lutgendorff (ft Nick Cohen, Suzanne Moore, Evan Harris, Natalie Fenton and Helen Lewis)
Secularist Court Wins (11:15) by Liz Lutgendorff (ft Pavan Dhaliwal and Richy Thompson)
Sunday Assembly (26:43) by James O’Malley (ft Sanderson Jones)
Bad Charity PR (36:56) by Marsh
Django and Spaghetti Westerns (42:35) by Alex Fitch
The Death of DVD (54:17) by David Biggins
Horse Burgers (63:39) by Sean Ellis

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Episode 166 – 14th December 2012

Jim Al-Khalili is announced as the new British Humanist Association President and we speak to the BHA’s Chief Exec about what the amazing new census numbers mean for non-religious people in the UK. It’s not so great for non-believers elsewhere though as a new report shows – and we also pick apart the Snoopers Charter, which was shot down this week by Nick Clegg. Plus a new mental health manual could have a big impact, why Northern Ireland is still flagging, and why Erasmus Darwin was awesome.



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Census Results and a new BHA President (2:11) by Liz Lutgendorff (ft Andrew Copson)
Atheist Persecution Worldwide (9:11) by Bob Churchill
Snooper’s Charter Slapdown (19:56) by Jenny Woods
Mental Health Diagnosis Pronosis (29:35) by Max Davie
Reviewing Peer Review (36:30) by Drew Rae
Flying The Flag (42:13) by Rory Fenton (ft Brian McClinton)
Erasmus Darwin (48:48) by Philip John
Video Codecs (55:11) by Trent Burton

Jenny’s Follow-Up Links:

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Episode 159 – 26th October 2012

Earthquake predictions, atheists and the scouts, a psychic challenge and Simon Singh explaining What Doctors Don’t Tell Him – and much more on this week’s Pod Delusion. We also speak to film maker Chris Atkins to preview the first meeting of Soho Skeptics, and find out what the BHA are doing about faith schools – and more!



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Due to hosting changes from this episode on we’re going to be shouldering the bandwidth costs for hosting the podcasts directly – so please donate and help us keep the Pod Delusion online and free to download!

Predicting Earthquakes (2:07) by Drew Rae
Chris Atkins Interview (10:46) by James O’Malley
Scouting & Atheism (22:56) by Shaun Joynson
Psychic Challenge (31:14) by James O’Malley (ft Simon Singh, Chris French, and Kim the psychic)
A New Singh Libel Case? (48:36) by James O’Malley (ft Simon Singh, again!)
BHA Faith School Fundraiser (51:34) by James O’Malley (ft Richy Thompson)
The sketch at the end is by David Lovesy and Brian Two

Follow-Up Links:

Buy your ticket for Chris Atkins at Soho Skeptics!

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Episode 145 – 20th July 2012

The government approve creationist schools, we speak to Alom Shaha about the Young Atheist’s Handbook, discover why sport is a bit like the church, and much more!



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Please Donate & Support the Pod Delusion
Go on, it’s like buying us two drinks a month!

Due to hosting changes from this episode on we’re going to be shouldering the bandwidth costs for hosting the podcasts directly – so please donate and help us keep the Pod Delusion online and free to download!

Get A Free Audio Book From Audible
We’re trialling partnering with Audible – sign up and get a free trial and you’ll get a FREE AUDIOBOOK! And you’ll also be helping the Pod Delusion, which is nice. Available audiobooks include Sam Harris’s Moral Landscape and Ben Goldacre’s Bad Science. Sign up here.

Creationist Schools Approved (2:05) by Liz Lutgendorff (ft Richy Thompson)
Mooniversary (6:58) by Drew Rae
Alom Shaha Interview (12:45) by James O’Malley & Liz Lutgendorff
AC Grayling on Alom (25:22) by James O’Malley (ft AC Grayling!)
Sport is like Church (28:04) by Trent Burton
Understanding the Higgs (35:52) by Tom Williamson
The Haber Process (41:52) by Andrew Holding
Robot Woman of the Future (48:02) by James O’Malley & Liz Lutgendorff (ft Helen Keen)
Questival (52:00) by James O’Malley (ft Mike Paynter)
The sketch at the end is by David Lovesy and Brian Two

Follow-Up Links:

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Episode 140 – 15th June 2012

We speak to a number big names this week: Dan Dennett gives us his take on Alan Turing, former government chief science advisor Sir David King teases us about what really went on behind the scenes of the Iraq war, and Ben Hammersley explains why technology makes politics difficult. We also tackle Gove’s proposed new curriculum, archiving film for the future and find out if evangelical christian women really want to go out with Jesus?



[Direct MP3 Link] [Podcast Feed] [Add to iTunes]

Please Donate & Support the Pod Delusion
Go on, it’s like buying us two drinks a month!

Due to hosting changes from this episode on we’re going to be shouldering the bandwidth costs for hosting the podcasts directly – so please donate and help us keep the Pod Delusion online and free to download!

Get A Free Audio Book From Audible
We’re trialling partnering with Audible – sign up and get a free trial and you’ll get a FREE AUDIOBOOK! And you’ll also be helping the Pod Delusion, which is nice. Available audiobooks include Sam Harris’s Moral Landscape and Ben Goldacre’s Bad Science. Sign up here.

Dan Dennett on Turing (2:10) by Deborah Hyde (ft DAN DANNETT!)
Evolution: The New Classics (12:54) by Richard Dawkins
Sir David King Interview (16:22) by Liz Lutgendorff
Ben Hammersley Interview (26:29) by James O’Malley
Gove’s Curriculum (36:41) by Rob Weeks
The Digital Dilemma (45:14) by Glen Travis
Jesus Is My Boyfriend (52:49) by Jonny Scaramanga (ft Kylie Sturgess)
The sketch at the end is by David Lovesy and Brian Two

Follow-Up Links:

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Darwin Day Lecture 2012

This year’s 2012 British Humanist Association Darwin Day lecture was presented by renowned author, broadcaster, scientist, and geek Adam Rutherford. Dr Adam Rutherford is a geneticist, author and broadcaster, as well as an editor at the science journal Nature. He presents television and radio programmes and is a writer for The Guardian newspaper. The 2012 Darwin Day lecture was chaired by biologist Steve Jones.


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You can also hear an interview with Adam about the lecture on Pod Delusion episode 120.

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Ray Tallis on ‘Aping Mankind’ – The 2011 BHA Holyoake Lecture

This year Ray Tallis gave the British Humanist Association‘s annual Holyoake Lecture in Manchester – in which he critically examined some of the assumptions and claims that may be made by some humanists. Needless to say – it was both fascinating and controversial!

Increasingly, it is assumed that human beings are best understood in biological terms; that, notwithstanding the apparent differences between humans and their nearest animal kin, people are, at bottom, organisms.

Presented by Professor Ray Tallis, author of Michelangelo’s Finger: An Exploration of Everyday Transcendence and Aping Mankind. Neuromania, Darwinitis and the Misrepresentation of Humanity, this year’s Holyoake Lecture will explore arguments against biologism. Tallis will argue that “the degrading image of man as just another animal is not only inaccurate but contrary to the spirit of humanism.”

Chaired by Professor John Harris, philosopher, bio-ethicist and distinguished supporter of Humanism. Professor Harris is the author or editor of fifteen books and over two hundred papers, and has written extensively on bio- and medical ethics, including The Value of Life, Introduction to Medical Ethics, On Cloning, a forceful defence of human cloning, and Enhancing Evolution: The Ethical Case for Making Better People.


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Episode 103 – 23rd September 2011

Were the wrong tactics used to try to save Troy Davis? Should we debate with creationists? What’s happening on Ada Lovelace Day? And much more!


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Secular Europe March (1:26) by James O’Malley (ft Keith Porteous Wood and David Pollock)
Death Penalty (11:22) by Drew Rae
Teach Kids To Code (19:33) by Salim Fadhley (ft Emma Mulqueeney)
Ada Lovelace Day (27:44) by Liz Lutgendorff (ft Suw Charman-Anderson)
Michelle Bachmann (35:57) by Adam Cuerden
Keep God Out Of Government (44:05) by James O’Malley (ft Jon Holmes)
BHA Creationism Letter (52:38) by Blakeley Nixon (ft Richy Thompson)
Debating Religion (pt 1) (58:18) by Justin Brierley
Debating Religion (pt 2) (65:40) by Richard Firth-Godbehere
The sketch at the end is by David Lovesy & Brian Two

Follow-Up Links for Drew:

Unfortunately, the sources for Drew Rae’s report are all paywalled. Here are links to a few abstracts which give a flavour of the research he summarised.

Other Follow-Up Links:

Pod Delusion EXTRA:
Pod Delusion ExtraOn the Extra Feed this week, we have lots of exciting things:

The Pod Delusion Episode 103

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