What is the purpose of religious images and why have some of them caused controversy over the centuries? These are two of the questions addressed by the classics scholar Professor Mary Beard in a two part BBC2 series called ‘Mary Beard on Forbidden Art’. Mary joins Dr Fozia Bora, Associate Professor of Islamic History at the University of Leeds, to discuss some of the themes and ideas in her new documentary.

The former Prime Minister Gordon Brown has put his weight behind a campaign to get aid flowing to Afghanistan. Along with Save the Children and a group of faith leaders, he is launching an online petition to persuade the British government to convene an aid conference so that the country’s needs are met. He joins Edward Stourton to discuss the desperate situation in Afghanistan.

In 1942, a Jewish woman in Vienna called Kamilla wrote a long letter to her children who had escaped Nazi-occupied Europe and were living in Britain. It was the last letter they got from her. Not long after she wrote it, she was deported and eventually murdered at Auschwitz. 80 years later the letter has become the inspiration for an musical way of marking Holocaust Memorial Day, which falls on Thursday this coming week. The album 'Letter to Kamilla' is the work of the composer Benjamin Till in collaboration with Michael Etherton, the Musical Director of a Jewish male vocal ensemble called Mosaic Voices and also Kamilla’s great grandson. Michael and Benjamin are in studio to talk about Kamilla and the music her letter has inspired.

Producers:
Helen Lee
Carmel Lonergan

Editor:
Tim Pemberton