BBC RADIO LEICESTER: DISCUSSING RECONCILIATION WITH MONICA WINFIELD

On BBC Radio Leicester this morning with Monica Winfield, talking about reconciliation. John Florance contacted Jan McDonald, Secretary of the Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Leicester earlier this week to ask if a Bahá'í could take part in the show, speaking to the topic from a Bahá'í point of view. Jan asked me and I said yes. Our topic arises from the "highly symbolic" handshake between the Queen and Martin McGuiness that took place on Her Majesty's recent visit to Northern Ireland as part of the Diamond Jubilee celebration.

The other two guests on the panel are Canon David Monteith from Leicester Cathedral, who was born in Northern Ireland and is newly appointed Chair of Trustees at St Philip's Centre for Study and Engagement in a Multi-Faith Society and Denise Carter, who is a director of local company, AIM, which offers mediation services to families in crisis. They're in the photo below with Rebecca Bryers, producer of Monica's show. I'm introduced on air as both being a Bahá'í and working for Leicester Council of Faiths. Monica asks me questions that draw on both those threads.

I appeared on Monica's Sunday morning show back in February this year, on a panel of three discussing the topic of forgiveness (blogged here). When we're off-air, I tell her that next time she has to get me on to speak about something juicier, such as - vengeance!