Public Engagement & Philosophy - Malmesbury, 17 October

On a panel with Angie Hobbs and Brenda Almond at the Thomas Hobbes Festival of Ideas at 2:15. Full details here.

Welcome to Everytown - Liverpool, 15 October

Giving a talk at the Bluecoats at 6pm as part of the Philosophy in the City festival, revisiting my book, Welcome to Everytown: A Journey into the English Mind. Full details here.

Saving Virtue - Belfast, 14 October

Giving a Royal Institute of Philosophy pubic lecture on “Saving Virtue: What psychology does and doesn't tell us about ethics and character" at 3.30. Full details here.

The Music Group - Cheltenham, 10 October

Free tickets are available to this recording of the Radio Four programme, recorded live at the Cheltenham Literature Festival. Host is Phil Hammond, not sure who other guest are. Full details here.

Utopias - Cheltenham, 10 October

On a panel with John Carey and A. N. Other (Anthony Kenny pulled out) at the Cheltenham Literature Festival. Full details here.

Free Thought & Censorship - London, 8 October

Giving a talk jointly hosted by the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association and the Sout Place Ethical Society, at Conway Hall, 7.30. Full details here.

Being Wrong - Bristol, 5 October

I'm interviewing Kathryn Schultz about her book, Being Wrong, at this Bristol Festival of Ideas event at the Watershed at 7.30. Full details here.

Architecture and our duty to beauty

"Beauty appears to be too fluffy for public policy. Its benefits are not clear and measurable, and its very nature too much a matter of subjective personal opinion. But if politics ignores beauty, then we are in trouble, because it is a public good and it matters when it is not protected. So we are left at an impasse. We have a public good that needs protecting, but no one will do so enthusiastically because no one feels qualified or mandated to make the kind of decisions about beauty that such protection requires."

Essay in today's Independent

Divided we stand

"Right now, especially in the light of yesterday's arrests, what is needed is opposition to particular policies and actions of the pope, which is explicitly friendly to Catholics and other religious groups in general. Instead we're seeing another round of atheists versus the faithful when so much of what really matters does not divide along these lines. The cause may be just, but the current battle is creating too much collateral damage, to the image of atheism, and to the possibility of finding common cause with believers who despair of the pope as much as the protesters do."

Article in today's Guardian

I want no moral or religious leaders

"If someone has something worthwhile to say on religion or ethics, we can and should listen. If not, leave them to go and lead less discriminating souls who seem to think that 'his holiness' is an actual description, rather than just an often misleading job title."

Latest post at the Guardian's Comment is Free (Published Thursday 16 September)

If science has not actually killed God, it has rendered Him unrecognisable

"It is not that physicists are authorities on religion, for whom we look to pronounce the last word. Indeed, they are not necessarily the best people to think through the implications of their science for religion, so philosophy may not be dead after all. But to think that their findings, and those of other scientists, have nothing to say about the credibility of religious faith is just wishful thinking."

Article in today's Independent

Does it matter who William Hague shares a hotel room with?

"There are always those who protest that how people behave in their private lives matters because character matters. But this underestimates the extent to which character is at least in part situation-specific. Someone can be a loyal rugby team member and a disloyal husband; honest with his wife but mendacious with colleagues; courageous facing illness and cowardly at sea in a storm. We should indeed judge politicians by their virtues, but only those that apply to their work as MPs. Lie to the electorate and you're out. Lie to your spouse and you're a bastard, but you can keep your job. (We will remember you're a bastard though, so don't try to pretend otherwise.)"

Article in yesterday's Guardian (G2)