with Zara Janjua

Zara’s This Spiritual Life guest is Irish writer Cecilia Aherne. She shares how she leans on her spirituality to write so prolifically, and her upbringing as the daughter of one of Ireland’s prime ministers.

TV reviewer Scott Bryan reveals the taboo storylines from some of our favourite 90s TV shows that ultimately shaped his upbringing and personal coming-out story.

And Zara hears the uplifting stories from two finalists from the BBC’s Make a Difference Young Hero category.

Her Faith Forum panel this week are Professor Joe Goldblatt, mmbassador to the Edinburgh Interfaith Association; Briana Pedago, Film Network co-founder and cultural policy expert; and Yahya Barry, Islamic scholar.

Together, they discuss the generation growing up living in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, 25 years after the event, reflected in a new Netflix documentary. And as the government impose sanctions on Israel, some have voiced concern that anti-Jewish hostility here in the UK will increase. The panel assess if faith can ever be separated from politics. And the groundbreaking 1964 social experiment from Granada TV – 7 Up – has reached its conclusion as those seven-year-olds turn 70. The documentary urges the viewer to ask what constitues a life well lived - our panel do the same.