Julia Baird

This year's Boyer Lectures will consider whether our democratic system will hold in the face of global headwinds.

Slow looking has become profoundly counter-cultural. And anything that serves as an antidote to chronic distraction, that pulls our gaze from pulsing, popping screens to quieter skies surely should be applauded.

When there are systemic problems, shortages of staff, lack of money, insufficient organ donors, delays in treatment, and over-burdened medical systems with long wait times in or out of emergency systems, doctors and nurses can feel it deeply.

Lucy Letby is currently serving multiple life sentences after being convicted of murdering seven babies and attempting to kill others. There's only one problem: the group of experts saying there's no evidence of wrongdoing.

The contrast of Pope Leo and Donald Trump goes far beyond Christendom or American economic power; it goes to what we want from our leaders, who we will follow, who we will heed, and where our future lies.

I may be the last person on earth to be personally confronted by the potential of AI technology. I knew it would come for our jobs. But I didn't expect it might come for our hearts.

Pope Francis's passing reminds us yet again of the complete absence of women in the upper echelons of the church. This is despite the fact that he did more to elevate women than any other pope.

I've often wished we could all have a brief moment of hurtling around the Earth, not to posture or preen, but to show the opposite — we are small, we are humble, and we need to fiercely care for the Earth.

Our fascination with the rich and famous often seems to curdle into something darker, even if it is hard to tell if we're eating the rich or eating cake.

Hanif Kureishi does not pretend his new life is anything but often hellish and a profoundly unwelcome shock. But he has also been moved and sustained by new discoveries about connection, creativity and love.