91Èȱ¬

As one of the contributors to the Church Of Scotland’s ‘Talking Ministry’ series, Tony meets Rev Hayley Cohen to discuss her personal journey of faith from her native New Jersey to Musselburgh and how growing up in an interfaith family with a Christian mother and Jewish father shaped her spiritual identity.

A new TV drama starts this week about the real-life activist Matthew Collins, a reformed Neo-Nazi, now working for the anti-racist organisation, Hope not Hate. The series explores the themes of racism, freedom of speech and terrorism. Tony examines these issues with Oliver Escobar, Senior lecturer at Edinburgh University and co-director of Critique, the Centre for ethics and critical thought; and Yahya Barry, an Academic in Islamic studies who has done extensive research into right wing populism in Europe.

It’s over 50 years since the body of a young child was found on Tayport beach in Scotland. It was a tragedy that sent shockwaves through the local community. A new 91Èȱ¬ Radio Scotland podcast called The Cruelty – A Child Unclaimed explores the case and the after-effects of the child’s death. Tony is joined by the presenter of the podcast, Davie Donaldson and Bishop David Chillingworth of the Scottish Episcopal Church to discuss how communities heal from the collective trauma of a harrowing event.

October marks Black History Month – the time of year when a light is shone on the history and impact of black lives around the world. Nelson Cummins of the Coalition of Racial Equality and Rights (CRER) discusses the events planned for Scotland and Nicola Scott from the Glasgow Film Theatre outlines their specific programme scheduled to reflect black lives on screen.

Poet and theologian Padraig O’Tuama joins Tony to discuss his latest book Poetry Unbound: 50 Poems to Open Your World in which he has curated selected works by poets addressing themes that open doors to different perspectives and experiences.

How would you live life knowing you could live to around 160 years old, age more slowly than your peers and look and feel decades younger than expected? Would you want to know you were going to live that long and would you live your life differently? A new 91Èȱ¬ Radio 4 drama called One Five Seven Years explores an alternate reality where scientists discover a genetic variant that drastically slows the body’s natural ageing process. Marietta Kirkbride, one of the writers of the drama and Dr Sarah Chan, a medical ethicist at the University of Edinburgh examine some of the difficult ethical questions raised by the series.