Politics UK - BBC World Service

I was on this programme talking about happiness and economic growth with Ed Stourton, and you can listen again here for the rest of the week.

Can science silence the doubters on David Kelly?

"If you want to repudiate the group of people who claim that the death of Dr David Kelly has not satisfactorily been proven as suicide, despite last week's publication of the post-mortem report, the easiest and cheapest way to do so is simply to label them conspiracy theorists. Without addressing any of the evidence, the mere use of those two words belittles and dismisses more effectively than any forensic examination of their case ever could. But be careful. If it is a fatal flaw to see any inconsistency as a sign of a sinister conspiracy, then it is just as mistaken to see any suggestion of a conspiracy as a sign of irrational paranoia."

Latest post at the Guardian's Comment is Free

The Shrink & The Sage: Regret

"When it comes to regret, most people seem to think that Frank Sinatra got it right: it’s OK to have a few, as long as they are too few to mention. Regretting too much is a far greater risk than regretting too little. However, there seems to be something of a double standard at work here, for when we look at people in public life, few things seem to raise the hackles more than lack of regret."

The latest not-quite-weekly column

Coming to the USA

In early 2011, I'm planning to travel across the USA with my partner, researching an article on atheism in America. If you live in the US, you may be able to help me in one of two ways.

First, I'd very much like to meet anyone who is willing to talk about any interesting experience of being an atheist outside of the country's more cosmopolitan cities. Anecdotally, I've heard that it can be difficult in ways Europeans find hard to imagine.

Second, it's going to be a long trip, so I'm looking at ways to stop it bankrupting me. I'm hoping that some universities, colleges, atheist or secular groups, book stores etc might be interested in me giving a talk or seminar, or leading a discussion in return for lodging and/or a contribution to my travel expenses. (An honorarium would be even nicer, of course!)

The route we're following is dictated by Amtrak (we have our reasons!). So I'm looking for people and individuals at or near one of the stations we'll be passing through. Here's the list, in geographical order, broken down into the main segments:

BOSTON - Providence - New London - New Haven - Bridgeport - Stamford - New Rochelle - NEW YORK

NEW YORK - Newark - Metropark - New Brunswick - Princeton Junction - Trenton - PHILADELPHIA - Wilmington - Newark - Aberdeen - BALTIMORE - BWI Airport - New Carrollton - WASHINGTON DC

WASHINGTON DC - Alexandria - Manassas - Culpepper - Charlottesville - Staunton - Clifton Forge - White Sulphur - Alderson - Hinton - Prince - Thurmond - Montgomery - Charleston - Huntington - Ashland - South Portsmouth - Maysville - CINCINNATI - Hamilton - Connersville - INDIANAPOLIS - Louisville - Crawfordsville - Lafayette - Rensselaer - Dyer - CHICAGO

CHICAGO - Joliet - Pontiac - Bloomington-Normal - Lincoln - Springfield - Alton - ST LOUIS

ST LOUIS - Poplar Bluff - Walnut Ridge - Little Rock - Malvern - Arkadelphia - Texarkana - Marshall - Long View - Mineola - DALLAS - FORT WORTH

FORT WORTH - Cleburne - McGregor - Temple - Taylor - Austin - San Marcos - SAN ANTONIO

SAN ANTONIO - Del Rio - Sanderson - Alpine - El Paso - Deming - Deming - Lordsburg - Benson - PHOENIX - TUCSON

TUCSON - Maicopa - Yuma - Palm Springs - Ontario - Pomona - LOS ANGELES

Then any number of possibilities along California's extensive rail network.

If you can help in any way, please email me. You can create my email address by putting my first name in front of my first and last name dot com, no spaces. So if my name were Annoying Spammer, the email would be annoying@annoyingspammer.com

Doing fine now

"The other day, I stood staring at my rows of books and CDs and thought, 'One day, someone is going to come into this room, put all this stuff and everything else I owned into boxes and take it to a charity shop.' Welcome to my world of joy."

A piece I wrote for New Humanist that went online a while ago.

Should we listen to philosophers? - BBC Radio Four, 27/10

"In a barrel, in a think tank or in a cave? We have lots of different ideas about the right place for a philosopher to be but do we listen to philosophers enough, too much, or in the right way? Julian Baggini, Editor in Chief of the Philosopher Magazine, asks 'Should we listen to philosophers?'."

To be broadcast at 20:45 on Wednesday 27 October. Programme page here.

Atheists and believers can get along

"Somehow, it has become received wisdom that the most important division is between people of faith and people of none. This is not only false, it is unchristian. Time and again in the gospels, Jesus argues that it is better to be a good gentile than a bad Jew. The Samaritan is more of a friend to the Christian that the Pharisee who walks by on the other side. What matters more than having the right faith is acting in good faith."

Latest blog at the Guardian's Comment is Free

The Music Group - BBC Radio Four

with PR man Mark Borkowski, Head of Cheltenham Ladies' College, Vicky Tuck and host Dr Phil Hammond. Recrded at the Cheltenham Literature Festival, broadcast 14/10/2010. Available to listen again until 21 October.

The Shrink & The Sage: Infidelity

"If a couple thinks that an affair has worked out to their advantage, it’s certainly not for a philosopher to disagree. But what bothers me is the reasoning that, so long as it all works out well, an affair is a good thing. That’s like arguing that life-threatening illnesses are good, because if you survive them, they can lead to a renewed appreciation of the value of life."

New almost-weekly half-column in the FT.

Should the internet win the Nobel peace prize?

"Online, other people just become names, and as such, people seem to lose all sense of the need to treat them decently. The internet fosters an anonymity which magnifies animosity."

Article on the BBC Online Magazine (Published 7 October)