with Zara Janjua

Available for 24 days

Sharing his Spiritual Life with Zara this week is legendary Scottish actor and screenwriter Tony Roper, who is returning to direct his play The Steamie for what is expected to be its final Scotland-wide run. Now 85, Tony reflects on his childhood in Anderston in Glasgow and his early working life as a miner in Fife before discovering acting at the age of 27. Zara and Tony also discuss his faith background and the beginnings of his friendships with The Big Yin, Billy Connolly, and the late, great comic actor Rikki Fulton. Scottish folk trio Siskin Green join Zara to discuss their new album, Living in the Echo, which combines close-harmony singing with traditional folk instrumentation while exploring themes of Christian faith, social justice, peace and feminism. The group also reflect on their musical journey, including their work with Scottish hymn writer John L Bell. Zara chats to Ian Van Tillo, husband of the late Ally Van Tillo, who helped bring the UK AIDS Memorial Quilt to life. With the full UK Quilt being displayed in Scotland for the first time at Glasgow’s Tramway this October, Ian reflects on Ally’s contribution and the significance and legacy of the project. Zara’s panel for this week’s Faith Forum discussion is: Zara Mohammed, Scottish faith leader and former secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain; Rodge Glass, Jewish writer and reader in creative writing at the University of Strathclyde; and William Gibson, PhD student in Theology and Religious Studies at the University of Glasgow and candidate for ministry in the Church of Scotland. As a major new report into mental health argues that young people are not simply a ‘snowflake generation’, but that rising anxiety, depression and self-harm reflect genuine mental distress, the panel discuss the impact of economic uncertainty and social media pressures, and the extent of the challenges young people face today. Andy Burnham’s meeting with Donald Trump this week has raised questions around how we work alongside people whose values possibly differ from our own in an increasingly polarised world. Together, the panel discuss ways of navigating differences within families, faith communities and workplaces, while considering the challenges of compromise. With the return of the Celebrity Traitors, the panel explore our fascination with deception, suspicion and betrayal, and how accurately we judge other people’s character. Their discussion also considers the long history of betrayal in religion and literature, from Judas and Jesus to Shakespeare’s tales of intrigue and treachery. And as Jarvis Cocker extols the virtues of his early days working at a fish market in a new documentary, the panel reflects on the jobs they had in their youth, asking: which roles did them the ‘power of good’, and what lessons did they learn from those experiences?