By Maggie Hall Private Eye has not previously been featured in this column, but I often find that, amongst all the satire, there is a serious item that is particularly concerning from a humanist point of view. In the latest edition, under Charity News, with the subheading Sinister Note, appears an item about the Watoto Children’s Choir of Uganda, which “has charmed many an audience in the UK, including the late Queen Elizabeth and Scottish and Welsh parliaments, returning every year for...

By Maggie Hall What do leading scientists, economists, military leaders and public health experts believe are the greatest risks facing the UK over the coming decades? Maggie reports on the National Emergency Briefing on the Climate and Nature Crisis, held at Westminster Hall, London, in November 2025, bringing together the key messages from ten expert speakers. Maggie is a former Chair of Brighton Humanists. This report summarises presentations from ten experts covering climate science,...

By Maggie Hall Maggie is a retired teacher of speech and drama, a former Chair of Brighton Humanists, a member of the Humanists UK Dialogue Network, and a Humanists UK School Speaker. In this article she considers the delights and difficulties of trying to live ethically. Humanists believe that this is the one life that we know we have and therefore we need to make the very best of it, both for ourselves and others. The same applies to our planet. We know there is no Planet B, so it is vital...