Pope in the Holy Land, Oz refugees, Roger Scruton, aggrieved Muslims, 'Hallelujah', business ethics, Baha'i & homophobia and the C of E

Was this morning's Sunday as bad as I feared? Here's what happened.

1. Edward looks ahead to Pope Francis' upcoming historic and politically sensitive visit to the Holy Land with Vatican Correspondent for the Irish Times Paddy Agnew.

We got the background to the trip from Paddy Agnew: The Pope is going at the invitation of the Patriarch of Constantinople and visiting "Israel, Jordan and Palestine". He will go to the banks of the Jordan, the Church of the Nativity, the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Yad Vashem, and refugee camps "in Palestine". 

Ed wondered: What about the Pope's safety? What about anti-Christian attacks?

That was the cue for Paddy Agnew to talk about anti-Christian attacks by Jewish groups - "price-tag attacks by ultra-orthodox Jews". 

Ed asked him to explain the "price-tag attacks" some more, and Paddy said they involved the spraying of Christian sites with anti-Christian slogans.

The Pope is taking a rabbi and a Muslim professor from Argentina with him, old friends of his.

This was as bad as I feared.

2. Phil Mercer reports on the Australian Church leaders calling for a wholesale review of the way the government treats asylum seekers in the offshore processing centre in Papua New Guinea.

Given Phil Mercer's past bias on this issue, I expected the worst here. 

We heard first from a 21 year old Sri Lankan refugee telling his story of flight from Sri Lanka. Phil asked him about his "frightening" boat journey and about how he felt about his time in a detention centre ("very upset"). Phil was getting us primed emotionally.

Then came a Sri-Lankan born pastor who said he was "in no doubt" the Australian government's policy is "inhumane". Phil led him on, asking him if it "shames this wealthy country".

Then came Misha Coleman  from the Australian Churches Refugee Taskforce saying the policy is "unfair", that people shouldn't worry about Muslims, and that there's been a"culture of fear" since 9/11.

The sop to impartiality came with the contribution of Gerald Henderson of the Sydney Institute, a "conservative think tank", who defended the policy on the grounds that it saves lives, saving the would-be immigrants from from drowning.

But then there was a prayer for refugees and Phil's closing lines left us with the message that the policy risks making Australia look bad.

A biased report for sure, but at least there was a creditable conservative voice included. That doesn't always happen in Phil Mercer's immigration reports.

This was almost as bad as I feared.

3. Edward talks to philosopher Roger Scruton about his new book The Soul of the World and asks him about his defence of the Anglican Church.

Edward invited Roger Scruton to attack "the usual suspects", Richard Dawkins & Co. 

"I have a great respect for Dawkins", replied Prof. Scruton.

Still, he disagrees with his "evangelical" brand of atheism, and rejects "triumphant" science and "nothingbutery" [the Mona Lisa is nothing but pigments, chemicals, etc.]

Ed asked him if his affection for the Anglican Church was "fairly conventional", but Roger Scruton defended stable belief and the Anglican Church's "respect for the mysteries" and "easy-going, relaxed attitude" towards spiritual beliefs.

I could have done with more of this.

4. As the National September 11 Memorial Museum opened this week Edward talks to Matt Wells about the row over a museum film some say unfairly links Islam and terrorism.

The row here concerns a film called, 'The Rise of al-Qaeda', and astonishingly some Muslim groups - and supportive politicians and academics - are up in arms about it because it uses the word "Islam". 

They dislike the fact that the film says that "Islamists" were behind the 9/11 attacks because the "Islam" part of "Islamist" could make people connect the two words together and make them think (Allah forbid!) that Islam is somehow associated with violence whereas, as we all know, Islam is a religion of peace. We heard from a Muslim activist making that very point (Islam is about peace) and claiming that the film could be "offensive to Muslims".

Matt Wells put that side of the argument and then challenged Joe Daniels, the 9/11 Memorial president over the issue, pressing him the "offence" issue. 

Matt then reflected that there are "acute sensitivities" among the Muslim community and "extremists who vilify the whole religion of Islam".

So far, so typical Matt Wells reporting; however, in a closing shaft of reason, Matt did say that he feels there's been an "overreaction here".

This was almost as bad as I feared.

5. As a nun continues to power her way through the Italian version of musical talent show The Voice, Father Ray Kelly, an Irish Catholic priest who's own interpretation of Leonard Cohen's "Halleluja" went viral on YouTube last month, tells us what it's like juggling a vocation and a music career.

I've watched this video too, and it's delightful.

During a wedding ceremony, Father Ted Ray suddenly put on a background track and starting singing the Leonard Cohen song, with words adapted to welcome and bless the couple being married and, my goodness, what a wonderful singer he is! (Great song too, of course).

The couple didn't know he could sing, and it was a surprise to them.

They e-mailed him shortly after to thank him, and told him he was a huge hit on YouTube. 

The video achieved 34 million hits before being removed. (Why was it removed?)

Ed talked with him about the singing nun in Sicily who's doing well in a TV talent show there, then recalled The Singing Nun from the 1960s.

Sony and Universal are speaking to him and he's now in the process of finding a manager.

His bishop [Brennan?] asked him about how many hits he'd got, and replied "Ah bless!" when Father Ted Ray told him.

I do hope he'll record My Lovely Horse at some stage. 

6. How do you rebuild trust in business? Kevin Bocquet reports on a new plan to do just that with 'do unto others as they would do to you' at its heart.

Ah, yes, business ethics - that perennial Sunday theme! 

The Institute of Business Ethics has called for multinationals, etc, to sign up to a moral code - "global ethical standards, based on scripture". We heard from Simon Webley of the IBE arguing this case, but we also heard from Sunday morning Radio 4's 'only right-winger in the village', Richard D North of the Institute for Economic Affairs, "a free-market think tank", pouring sceptical cold water on the idea, along with a couple of other 'talking heads' who added further caveats.

The result was a surprisingly balanced report, even if the choice of theme in the first place suggests bias.

7. An Iranian cemetery which is the resting place of ten Baha'i women who refused to recant their faith in 1983 is being demolished by the country's Revolutionary Guard. Edward talks to a member of the Bhai community in Britain whose sister is buried in the cemetery.

We heard from the brother of one of the ten women (aged between 17 and 57) executed by the Iranian regime in 1983, martyrs who refused to recant. 

There have been over 200 executions of Baha'i in post-revolution Iran. There are employment bans, their kids are excluded from schools, etc. (Iran is an apartheid state!) The persection even seems to have intensified since cuddly President Rouhani came to power. 

We're lucky not to be Baha'i in Iran.

8. The Archbishop of Canterbury has published guidance on tackling homophobia in Church of England schools. But how does the church square this message with its opposition to same-sex marriage? Rev Jan Ainsworth and Bishop Alan Wilson discuss.

We heard first from Stonewall's Luke Trill, who welcomes Justin Welby's move, then came the debate with Rev Jan and Bishop Alan [strongly pro-same sex marriage.]

It is on areas of social attitudes that Sunday's liberal bias really comes into its own, as here. Edward Stourton pursued Luke Trill and Alan Wilson's point that the guidance doesn't square with the Church's opposition to same-sex marriage and that that opposition is a problem, and pursued it will some vigour, repeatedly re-asking it, interrupting and challenging Rev Jan and putting words into Bishop Alan's mouth. ("I think that's exactly right", said Bishop Alan at one point, reacting to an Ed Stourton question to him). 

Edward Stourton conducted this interview in such a one-sided way that bias is the only explanation.

This was even worse than I'd feared.

Still, the sun is out again, so enjoy your Sunday - even if you don't enjoy their Sunday.

"BBC [and 'Guardian']...Your man took one hell of a beating!"

Urghh, a gloating blogger! (Please imagine a smiley face). .........

So, Tony Abbott's conservative coalition has crushed Kevin Rudd's Labor Party in the Australian federal election.

The Australian public have spoken, and in very clear terms. 

I can well imagine that a few desperados on the Left here in Britain will blame 'The Dirty Digger' (Rupert Murdoch) for Mr Abbott's convincing win with the Ozzie electorate. They will doubtless be complaining - and I see they already are - about the strident (and, yes, they probably will use such a pejorative adjective) support given by his newspapers to the Liberal-National coalition.  

Oooh, here's an impartial BBC online report about the results. What's it saying?

Under Mr Rudd, Labor initially saw its figures improve. But Mr Abbott, who enjoyed the strident support of Rupert Murdoch's newspapers, then widened the gap again.

Darn that Dirty Digger!

Jon Donnison is clearly miffed:

You sense from voters that Mr Abbott's victory is not so much a ringing endorsement as a rejection of Labor. He's a conservative who has promised a tough line on immigration and asylum-seekers. He opposes gay marriage and has been a sceptic on climate change. Kevin Rudd sold himself as the comeback kid. It didn't work. His party now faces a period of further introspection.

Boo-hoo!

Update (17.08): My goodness, and I'm really not imagining this [or am I?], but Jon Donnison's colleague (and blog favourite) Phil Mercer is looking very downbeat about this result on the BBC News Channel at the moment. (Not quite 'bursting into tears', but still 'needing Prozac', I'd say).

He's looking on the bright side for Labor though - Kevin Rudd held his seat, Kevin Rudd is looking happy tonight, Kevin Rudd is talking about a 're-birth', and Labour are hoping they won't have to wait long for a comeback - but, oh yes, he's also saying that Labor aren't happy about the way the "sections of the Australian print media" have treated them. (Darn that Dirty Digger!) I have to say he doesn't look very happy about that himself though.

Oh dear, what a pity, never mind.

P.S. Expect hatchet jobs a-plenty on Tony Abbott. T'was ever thus. 

The first 'Sunday' of September

As it's Sunday morning, it's Sunday review time. ('Oh goodie!' I hear you cry.)

7.10 Introduction, by William Crawley

7.11 New chief rabbi installed today. The installation of Ephraim Mirvis (above) at the new chief rabbi of the UK brought invites to the Sunday studio for Justin Cohen of The Jewish News, and Labour's Lord Glasman.

William asked Justin what people expected from Rabbi Mirvis. Justin said that his pastoral work is what people talk about, that he's "very much a people's person". He won't be a "revolutionary "though on issues such as gay marriage. He will continue Lord Sacks's emphasis on the importance of Jewish schools, and seek to halt the decline in general orthodoxy's membership. William asked him if there's pressure on him to involve more women. Yes, said Justin, and he's being leading the way on this already.

Lord Glasman wants him to follow in Lord Sacks's footsteps, admiring Lord Sacks as being (like himself) "a public intellectual". Specifically he wants him to get involved with the condition of the poor, denounce usury and support an interest rate cap - as well as to find creative ways to enhance Jewish unity.

7.18 Australian election. This was the report from Phil Mercer which I anticipated in a post yesterday. (Scroll down and you'll see it!) I was expecting bias, and wasn't disappointed. It outlined the religious views of Kevin Rudd and Tony Abbott, but spend far longer on Tony Abbott than on Kevin Rudd - not to Mr Abbott's advantage.

It began at an anti-Abbott rally for gay rights. Phil talked of his "deeply conservative views" and called in one of his critics, author David Marr, to confirm that Mr Abbott is a staunch Catholic - a "pretty much unreconstructed" 1950s Catholic in fact. For the left he's a "dangerous social reactionary", said Phil. Cue Jim Jackson of Sydney University and his concerns about Mr Abbott's views on abortion. A clip of Tony Abbott being mocked over his 'sex appeal' gaffe followed, then Phil says that he was being lampooned for his "rigid ideology". After this onslaught came the sop to the other side - a former classmate praising his loyalty and compassion and saying that he'll be a humble leader.

Tony Abbott: Family values

It was Kevin Rudd's turn next, but all we got here was a clip of his public apology to Australia's aborigines, Phil calling him a "devout Christian" and talking of his "deep faith", and then an uncritical Roy Williams, author of God Actually, saying he has a "complex set of beliefs". And that was it. No negative labels from anyone, no criticism.

Ah but...there was criticism to follow, of both Mr Rudd and Mr Abbott - and it was back to Phil Mercer's pro-immigration campaign. We heard from Fr Rod Bower who worries both are behaving badly over the issue of asylum seekers, talking of Australia's "affluenza" which has made the country "very self-centred".  "We are so lucky, let's share our luck", he concluded - and the report concluded.

7.24 Seamus Heaney. William talked of the late poet's "ability to disclose the otherness of ordinary things" and then interviewed former Irish president Mary McAleese, a friend, who found his poetry "electrifying".

Seamus Heaney may have lost his faith but transcendence mattered to him and, she said, he came out of a strong metaphysical tradition. Inevitably, especially with the choice of a politician to discuss the poet, political aspects were discussed - but at not too great a length.

7.30 A new Secretary of State is appointed at the Vatican. The BBC's David Willey told us about the new man appointed by Pope Francis. Archbishop Pietro Parolin (below) - a "veteran Vatican diplomat" who "has a very solid knowledge of the inner working of the Vatican". He will want to "distance himself" from his predecessor, Cardinal Bertone.

This is part, David Willey said, of the pope's "rather ambitious reform programme" after the "drift" under Benedict [the usual tone of disdain entered DW's voice as he mentioned that name] and the last years of John Paul II. There'll be a "greater sense of collegiality". Big issues facing Archbishop Parolin? The Vatican Bank, said David Willey.

7.34 Hare Krishna Movement. Trevor Barnes reported on what William Crawley described as their move from "hippy outsiders to part of the Hindu mainstream". Trevor tracked this trajectory from being "a weird and wonderful sect", backed by the Beatles, to the kind of movement that can bring "the great and good of the British establishment" to Bhaktivedanta Manor to celebrate an important anniversary. 

Dr John Zavos of Manchester University said that they now have a sophisticated organisation structure which is proving an inspiration to other Hindu organisations. We heard from various adherents, including two ladies who supported the tenor of Trevor's report - that the early "counter-cultural edge" has left the movement and that it now appeals to professionals more than to disaffected youth. 

7.40 Jim Wallis. Jim Wallis (below, with friends), spiritual advisor to Barack Obama. has a new book out called 'On God's Side' and Sunday duly helped him plug it. Mr Wallis last appeared on Sunday when the programme was obsessing about the Occupy protests in late 2011. Mr Wallis supported the protests.  He says his new book is "a gospel for the common good". His main practical example was immigration reform - admiring his president's action to allow undocumented immigrants to become citizens. Equality "for the poor and vulnerable" is what Jim Wallis is after.

William Crawley brought up George W Bush as the kind of politician who thinks he can know God's mind, but Mr Wallis didn't rise to that invitation to make an anti-Bush point. William then said that Jim Wallis's wish to have the churches concentrate on the poor and vulnerable wasn't helped by the fact that "many churches are obsessed with sex and sexuality these days, aren't they?" [a rather loaded way of putting it]. Mr Wallis tended to agree, attacking "homophobia" and backing same-sex marriage, wanting to "re-covenant" marriage. 

William then asked him about Syria. He said he is "very, very suspicious" about military strikes on Syria and wants to focus on the plight of refugees and isolate Assad diplomatically instead. William Crawley asked him, with his admiration for President Obama, whether he wasn't disappointed over the president's willingness to use military force. We will advise him, replied Mr Wallis. President Obama cares about the Syrian people, he said.

7.47 Syria and the aid agencies. William discussed Syria again with Janet Symes, Head of Middle East at Christian Aid and Jehangir Malik, UK Director of Islamic Relief. [I wrote last week that they were a favourite Sunday charity and, lo and behold, here they were again]. Both talked of the "deplorable situation" there, inside Syria as much as across its border. Both (like Jim Wallis) oppose military strikes on Syria. Both hope for peace, and a political, negotiated solution to the conflict. 

Ozzie impartiality rules

"Pale, male and stale" - Phil Mercer, BBC

Despite what they say at a certain university in Cardiff...

One of the BBC's Australia correspondents seemed to be engaged in something of a campaign against the tough immigration policies of that country's politicians. 

Phil Mercer's piece on Radio 4's Sunday a couple of weeks ago, described here, was one of the most loaded pieces I've heard on the BBC for a long time, with a stream of pro-immigration 'talking heads' denouncing tough immigration policies and the reporter himself offering just two explanations for the irrationality ("deep fears") of the Australians' response to asylum seekers  - (a) "fear of invasion from Asia" or (b) "simply xenophobia". 

This forms part of a pattern though, as you can see if you watch the following video report: Australia crackdown on refugees raises concerns. 

This begins with Phil Mercer talking of "increasing severe measures" being promised by the politicians, then features an interview with an Afghan Muslim refugee who came "seeking Australia's protection" and went on to set up what seems to be a successful business in Australia (like others "going quietly about their business").  He's "dismayed" about the current debate about immigration. After a brief outline of the current government's policy, Phil says "the authorities remain extremely sensitive" to the coverage of the immigration debate. Cue a clip from one of his earlier reports (from outside a Sydney detention centre) where he's in the middle of making a pro-immigration point saying "The drive and determination of successive waves of refugees have had a significant impact on Australian society and have often been been forgotten amid a hardline policy..." when a security guard interrupts and tells him to stop filming. Next comes another refugee "forced" to come to Australia by the "unimaginable brutality" of "militants" in Afghanistan. He's very happy at the peacefulness and security afforded by "multicultural" Australia which has, Phil says, "welcomed" more than 800,000 refugees since independence from Britain in 1901. The report ended with the following point: "Modern Australia has been built by mass migration. A quarter of the population was born overseas and despite an often toxic political discourse their is a broad appreciation of the nation-building contribution made by refugees."

Now, whatever the rights and wrongs of the issue at hand, that is certainly not an impartial report. Not by any stretch of the imagination. From the subjective choice of adjective, the use of the 'talking heads' and the one-sidedness of the views they express, and the whole framing of the story, it's very clear where this BBC reporter stands on this issue. 

And he keeps standing there.

Asylum seeker?

Here's another Phil Mercer report from this month: Australia's refugees show their business sense. 

The headline really does tell you all you need to know here. Phil's making the 'immigration is good for the economy' argument we're all so familiar with here in Britain. This report is an expansion of the above video report and emphasises how past refugees have become a "vital cog in the economy". 

As well as the refugees, Phil also calls in the support of Paul Power, the head of the Refugee Council of Australia who appears in his Sunday report too. ("While there is no data on the precise contribution this vast displaced group has made to the Australian economy over the decades, Mr Power insists that the impact has been profound.") 

There's a brief sop to balance - ("Not everyone agrees"), as Phil described "right-wing groups" as arguing against immigration and multiculturalism and sections of the public being "anxious" about the issue and we hear of entrepreneur Dick Smith, who Phil's seen on TV, offering a reward to anyone who can solve the problem of Australia's "population and consumption growth-obsessed economy" - but this perfunctory nod to impartiality is swiftly swept aside by Phil's own talk of the "rejuvenating force" given by the "humanitarian waves" of refugees. A town that has (apparently) thrived because of mass immigration is held up as proof, with the approving words of its mayor left ringing in our ears - "It really is something that we treasure."

And there's more. 

Last Saturday's PM may have had Syria and the Shetland helicopter disaster to report but the programme still had time for a report from Phil Mercer predicated on this problem posed by the failure of the Australian cricket team: "Could Australia's problem be that the cricket team is too white?" Can you guess what answer Phil gave to that question? 

Yes, and all his 'talking heads' (former refugees, a Muslim politician) were on board with the same message. (Not a whiff of dissent anywhere). The problem: "Cricket here hasn't mirrored the country's multicultural make-up". The solution: "Multiculturalism."

[No one thought to point out at any stage that 'pale' and 'male' Australian cricket teams have made Australia the most successful Test nation in history, and that a lack of multiculturalism in the team didn't stop them winning three consecutive world cups during the last 20 years - the only nation to have done so.]

Pale, male and...'All Hail!'

Where will campaigning pro-immigration BBC reporter Phil Mercer pop up next? 

Well, he's back on Sunday tomorrow morning apparently, and two weeks after reporting about the criticisms of Australia's politicians by pro-immigration Australians, what is Sunday promising for tomorrow? More of the same:

Australia's election next week pits Kevin Rudd against Tony Abbott. The leaders' faith has helped to define their political outlook, but they have been criticised for their uncompromising stance on asylum seekers. Phil Mercer reports.

Why two reports just two week's apart on exactly the same subject, and what's the betting this second report will be just as one-sided as the first? 

"The phrase 'Arab Spring' seems a cruel irony this morning..."

Here's this week's review of Radio 4's Sunday.

7.10 Introduction, by Edward Stourton. His opening words?: "The phrase 'Arab Spring' seems a cruel irony this morning..."

7.11 The Archbishop of York announces a review into child abuse in the Anglican Church. Edward talked to Anne Lawrence of the Campaign to Stop Church Child Abuse. She wants a public inquiry into abuse in the Church.

7.15 Zoroastrianism.  In the light of the Zoroastrian new year, Edward interviewed Lord Karan Bilimoria, the only Zoroastrian in the House of Lords. Zoroastrianism is one of the world's oldest religions, though it has small numbers of followers these days. Lord Bilimoria gave some background to this ancient theistic religion, possibly the world's first monotheistic religion. There are just 6,000 Parsis in the UK. (Did you know Freddie Mercury was a Zoroastrian? Edward Stourton didn't.). 

Any issues for Zoroastrians? Lord Bilimoria has been on several BBC programmes over the last couple of years attacking the government's immigration cap, so it was unsurprising that he replied "immigration" and then attacked the "current government's blunt immigration cap". We should be encouraging immigration that benefits us, he said.

7.20 In St. Paul's footsteps. In the second part of his report, Bob Walker began his 300-mile work through Turkey. A local imam helps him when he gets lost. He encounters howling dogs, a dead wolf, a scary dam, thick mud, baking heat and many rivers. He quotes St. Paul's own description of his trek across this landscape. He meets no one else on the trail for days, then meets a Dutch couple [Christians] doing the same walk. They find it historically interesting. Way-marks prove elusive for Bob. The charity of locals is literally a life-saver for him. A Roman road, spectacular ruins. Anatolian sheepdogs are the scariest thing of all - big and fierce. Calls to prayer, mosques, minarets. He wonders what Paul would have made of those sounds. He finally reaches an Antioch church - the  Church of St. Paul, apparently built on synagogue. He recalls Paul & Barnabas's announcement that they will "turn to the gentiles" - a major event in Christianity, the beginning of "the universal Christian church".

7.26 GK Chesterton. An interview with Prof Alison Milbank on the Catholic writer, and on the calls for him to be canonised. She thinks he's a deep thinker and says that his little book on Thomas Aquinas is considered one of the greatest about the philosopher. His critiques of nihilism and relativism drew on his own experiences. His own theology? "A theology of gift", that everything is a gift from God - God the dramatist, artist. Quite a mystical theology. He also wrote a book called "Orthodoxy" - a spiritual autobiography, Prof Milbank calls it. She herself finds orthodoxy "exciting", Edward says it's "unfashionable". Edward notes that Pope Francis is rumoured to be a fan. 

7.31 Fracking and the Anglican Church. Church commissioners asserted their rights to mining this week, then issued a statement calling on anti-fracking protesters to consider the possible benefits of fracking. People put two and two together, noted Edward Stourton. So Philip Fletcher of the Church's group on Mission and Public Affairs was brought into the studio. Sunday had wanted to question the commissioners (presumably to give them a grilling), but they didn't want to speak to the programme. Edward pressed Mr Fletcher on the issue and asked whether the "desire for financial gain" had any part in the Church's statement. Ed then raised the issue of different opinions within the Church.

7.36 Immigration in Australia. The new Archbishop of Sydney, Glenn Davies, is taking on  the politicians over their tough immigration policies. We heard a report from the BBC's Phil Mercer, which began with a protest song about a Sri Lankan asylum seeker, of which we heard two surprisingly long extracts. Phil said that tougher policies are being promised by the politicians but Archbishop Davies wants a more "compassionate" approach to these "vulnerable" people and accuses the politicians of turning the issue into a "political football". Kevin Rudd is quoted, saying it's about saving lives not winning votes. He has, says Phil, an "uncompromising policy". Tony Abbott is also quoted, immediately followed by the sound of a protester shouting about "bigotry". We then heard about the anger in Australia's Muslim community" and a Muslim spokesman criticised the country's immigration policies. Phil speculated that the images of boat people "stirs deep fears" within many Australians. He asks: Is it an ancient "fear of invasion from Asia" or "simply xenophobia"? We then hear from a church minister who says Australians are not as kind as they think they are and then from the head of Australia's Refugee Council who is happy that church leaders are taking the lead against the politicians over immigration. Finally, it was back to Archbishop Davies and a final reiteration of his concerns. 

So, except for those two extracts from the politicians [both from public statements], this report consisted of nothing but a string of opponents of tough immigration policies. You would have thought that a few balancing 'talking heads' supportive of tough immigration policies would have been included in the report as a matter of course. But no, not a bit of it. 

Add to that remarkable imbalance of 'talking heads' Phil Mercer's own speculations about the irrationality of the Australian people's concerns about immigration and you get precisely the kind of biased pro-immigration reporting which critics of the BBC have long accused the corporation of being guilty of - and which the BBC says may have been the case in the past but is now no longer the case. Well, Phil Mercer's report here shows that it is still the case, now.  

7.42 Egypt. What's to be done about the Muslim Brotherhood? 

Edward Stourton didn't sound too happy at the army's use of force, from the tone of his questioning. He began by discussing matters with Jeremy Bowen. Both agreed that the Muslim Brotherhood is so deep rooted that the military's attempts to eliminate them as a political force won't succeed. 

In a bit of a change to the cast-list originally announced on the programme's website, Edward then brought in Coptic Bishop Angaelos and the (in)famous Tariq Ramadan, an ancestor of the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood. 

Mr Ramadan says that he's been critical of Muslim Brotherhood strategy but they've not had long enough in power. The won the election, he said. For him, the coup-d'etat, the comeback of the army "is the true question".

Edward says the Copts can't do very much, as they are a small minority (just 10%). The bishop replies that an openly affiliated president shouldn't have been the case. It resulted in the "marginalisation" of Christians and a lot of Muslims who didn't share the Brotherhood's vision. It was "a power-grab that went through almost every section of society".

Mr Ramadan says that during the first uprising, Copts and Muslims protected each other. Copts have an important role to play, but advises them: "Don't take the side of the military". He wants the Copts to denounce army violence.

What of the liberals? Jeremy Bowen says they've made a lot of political mistakes, including since the coup. He expressed surprise at Mohammed al-Baradei's backing of the coup, sounding disappointed in a man he admires. He added though that the military action has a lot of support.

Be optimistic, Ed says. The bishop says clear guidelines on religion and policy needed as a partial democracy isn't a full democracy. The Brotherhood didn't try to represent everyone.

Tariq Ramadan says that national civic coalition is needed and wants the military's role defined and reduced.

******

So, did this edition of the programme draw on what I keep on describing as its "usual diet of breaking news from the Arab world, Christian-related abuse stories, bad news about the Catholic Church, something about human rights, the usual airing of Muslim grievances, a call for something or other by a left-wing campaign group, an Anglican row over something, that sort of thing"? 

Yes, most of that list was duly ticked by Sunday this week. Egypt took care of the 'breaking news from the Arab world' box; the opening story ticked the 'Christian-related abuse stories' box; the immigration report ticked three boxes - the 'something about human rights', the 'the usual airing of Muslim grievances' and the 'call for something or other by a left-wing campaign group' boxes; and the fracking story ticked the 'an Anglican row over something' box. Only the 'bad news about the Catholic Church' box went unticked this week.