Beyond our ken

It seems only right to tune in to programmes about Belief in the week leading up to Easter Day, the holiest day in the Christian calendar. Whether or not you have faith, there’s some point in reflecting on matters of conscience once a year, if only to give your inner self an annual spiritual check-up. It’s a chance to pause and reflect on matters other than the bank balance, the state of the garden, or that irritating person who’s blighting your life at work. For her late-night Radio 3 series this week, Joan Bakewell has been talking to a Catholic, a Muslim, a Druid, an atheist and an Anglican Bishop. The Catholic, Sara Maitland, who has written a book about living in silence, or rather absence, removing herself to a remote cottage on the island of Skye, was robust in her defence of God. ‘Are you going to be judged?’ asks Bakewell, fearlessly.