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Seen & Unseen Aloud
1 min read

Seen & Unseen Aloud: people, politics and purpose

A summer box set special. Emerson Csorba's three articles on purpose and character.

Natalie Garrett

Natalie produces and narrates The Seen & Unseen Aloud podcast. She's an Anglican minister and a trained actor.

Two men in seats adress a pyjamap-clad Ronald Regan.
James Baker, left, briefs a recovering Ronald Reagan, right, in hospital .
White House via Wikimedia Commons.

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Over the last few month Emerson Csorba's written for us on character and purpose  He takes us through US politics with a focus on James Baker a reluctant recruit to the Reagan team; he asks what's the point of purpose and how do we find it? and he contemplates the power of supposedly random encounters with people - looking at the career of Fiona Hill from mining village to Durham University, via the White House.

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3 min read

Most popular 2024: the contributors

From politics and media, to sporting controversy, our top writers’ takes on the year.

Nick Jones

Nick is the senior editor of Seen & Unseen.

A painting of the Last supper showing Christ and the disciples at a table.
da Vinci's Last Supper.
Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

We’re wrapping up the year reviewing what articles were most popular with Seen & Unseen readers. Our final analysis is of the top 10 contributor takes on the year’s events. What did our writers,  well,  write about?

Two interviews resonated with our readers. One with a volunteer surgeon in Gaza, while the  other got to the bottom of what’s kept a veteran politican going. Talking of which, we also gave Joe Biden some advice too.

We reviewed Kier Starmer’s favourite book, praised Sally Rooney’s new opus, and watched a Netflix blockbuster that gave the church a bad name. And took Disney to task for the Disneyfication of the monasteries.

On matters of the mind and heart  we took Ted and Taylor to task, while critiquing a dating app's shade-throwing ad.

And, like, our editor-in-chief’s top story, paganism high profile needed investigating too.

Over 170 writers have contributed to Seen & Unseen. Explore them using the Contributor List and their work through our Index of 800 articles.

10 - Celibacy, the Pope and the dating app

There’s a desperate need for a new sexual revolution.

Explore more articles on themes in this article: Identity, Romance.

Read more from this author.

Celibacy, the Pope and the dating app

9 - My open letter to Sally Rooney: dilatasti cor meum

You enlarge my heart.

Explore more articles on themes in this article: Books, Wildness.

Read more from this author.

My open letter to Sally Rooney: dilatasti cor meum

8 - The book Keir Starmer says you must read

Will Hutton’s This Time No Mistakes surveys the thinking that could solve Britain’s ills.

Explore more articles on themes in this article: Economics, Politics.

Read more from this author.

The book Keir Starmer says you must read

7 - Stephen Timms: still on mission

The MP on five decades trying to prove a Christian Tory wrong.

Explore more articles on themes in this article: Politics, S&U Interviews.

Read more from this author.

Stephen Timms: still on mission

6 - Self-belief: what Ted and Taylor get wrong

Psychologist Roger Bretherton questions whether believing in ourselves is all it’s cracked up to be, despite what culture icons might say.

Explore more articles on themes in this article: Identity, Psychology, Taylor Swift.

Read more from this author.

Self-belief: what Ted and Taylor get wrong

5 - Shardlake: the Disneyfication of the Monasteries

What works, and doesn’t, translating from page to screen.

Explore more articles on themes in this article: Film and TV. Monastic Life.

Read more from this author.

Shardlake: the Disneyfication of the Monasteries

4 - Jonathan Aitken: I’m in my 80s and here’s what I’d tell Joe Biden

Don't succumb to this politicians' fantasy.

Explore more articles on themes in this article: Ageing, Politics.

Read more from this author.  

I’m in my 80s and here’s what I’d tell Joe Biden

3 - Christianity’s big PR problem

Dancing for the Devil is just the latest shock-jock exposé.

Explore more articles on themes in this article: Film & TV.

Read more from this author.

Christianity’s big PR problem

2 - Eye witness: life and death in Gaza’s European Hospital

 

Returning plastic surgeon Tim Goodacre reports on the struggles, the despair and the dignity of the people and the medics of Gaza during their long nightmare.

Explore more articles on themes in this article: Gaza, Israel, Middle East, S&U interviews, Suffering, War & peace.

Eye witness: life and death in Gaza’s European Hospital

1 - Paris 2024 and Christianity’s opening ceremony

A subversive Olympic opening relies on Christianity’s own beginnings.

Explore more articles on themes in this article: Paganism, Sport.

Read more from this author.  

Paris 2024 and Christianity’s opening ceremony

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