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Where are the mystics? What with the free speech? And the humanity of a dog. Listen now.

Natalie Garrett

Natalie produces and narrates The Seen & Unseen Aloud podcast. She's an Anglican minister and a trained actor.

A cartoon scene depicts a robot gnome marching out a shed while its inventor and his dog look on.

A good boy is not convinced.

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As we start the year, we hear from Belle Tindall about some of the great mystics of the Christian faith; Cameron Wiltshire-Plant warns Elon Musk that there is always a cost to "free speech" and Jonathan Rowlands celebrates the deep humanity of Wallace & Gromit.

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Seen & Unseen Aloud

21 November 2025

1 min read

Alan Bennett, rationality and the Budget

New episode. Listen to articles by Roget Standing, Alister McGrath, and Annika Greco-Thompson.

Natalie Garrett

Natalie produces and narrates The Seen & Unseen Aloud podcast. She's an Anglican minister and a trained actor.

In the style of a Raeburn portrait, a set of young people lounge around on their phones looking diffident

Enlightened disagreement (with apologies to Henry Raeburn).

Nick Jones/Midjourney.ai.

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About the episode

This week we start with Roger Standing's review of Alan Bennett's latest film, The Choral; then Alister McGrath unpacks the terrain between the "Age of Reason" and the era of "post-truth" and finally Annika Greco Thompson discusses the possible Christian response to financial (in)security, in the lead up to the UK's Chancellor announcing the Autumn Budget.

Support this podcast

Since Spring 2023, thousands of people have enjoyed hundreds of podcast episodes and over 1,500 articles.

All for free.

This is made possible through the generosity of our amazing community of supporters.

If you enjoy Seen & Unseen Aloud, would you consider making a gift towards our work?

Do so by joining Behind The Seen. Alongside other benefits, you’ll receive an extra fortnightly email from me sharing my reading and reflections on the ideas that are shaping our times.

Graham Tomlin
Editor-in-Chief