Athena Queen Street, Leicester LE1 1QD 2019

21-23 June 2019 Leicester

FOR A TOLERANT WORLD WHERE RATIONAL THINKING AND KINDNESS PREVAIL WELCOME YOUR TICKET

Welcome to Leicester and to one life have. That’s why we the Humanists UK Convention host events like this one: to 2019. I’ll be introducing a few bring people together from Register and collect your name badge at of our talks, and, along with many different walks of life to the registration desk in the foyer at Athena. other staff and volunteers from develop their own views and Humanists UK, I’ll be here all an understanding of the world If you are attending Humanist weekend to meet delegates around them. Professionals Conference, or LGBT and get to know you better. Humanists Conference, register and And where better to ring in collect your name badge at Orange Rooms, That’s a big part of what events (21 June) 9 Newarke St, Leicester, LE1 5SN. like this one are about for me: than Leicester? The city is meeting people. Connecting home to the world’s oldest Registration for Humanists UK Convention is open from 16:00 on Friday, 08:30 on with them and learning from secular society, Leicester Saturday, and 09:30 on Sunday. them. Cultivating friendships, Secular Society, which shares old and new, is a big part of a long intellectual heritage revolutionised police forensics Registration for Humanist Professionals what makes us human. Add with Humanists UK. Many in the 1980s, earning him Conference is open from 10:30 on Friday, to that a bit of laughter, some humanists of the 19th century both a knighthood and his and LGBT Humanists Conference from 13:15. new discoveries, and the had an association with appointment as a freeman of excitement that comes from Leicester Secular Society in its the city. And it was also the encountering and debating heyday, including the writer place where the world’s most new ideas, and you have a and artist William Morris, the famous naturalist, Sir David recipe for a very fulfilling sort political campaigner George Attenborough, spent most of of life. I hope we can model Holyoake, and the Scottish his childhood. some of that this weekend. poet James Thomson, who We’ve organised a great line- wrote an address specifically Whether you’ve been to lots up of speakers, entertainers, for the opening of its Secular of Humanists UK events educators, and activists Hall building – which is just before or if this is your first, who we hope will shed light around the corner from our I hope you have a fantastic on many of the areas where venue. It’s a beautiful building weekend. We are all here for humanists are contributing to but it wasn’t large enough to the same reasons – to have Convention ticket plus lunch plus lunch and gala dinner society, human understanding, host all of us! I hope you will fun, to celebrate , to Convention ticket-holders are In addition, please join us for As well as teas, coffees, and and human happiness. It get time to take a look at it explore new ideas, and to think welcome to join us at any talk or teas, coffees, and a buffet lunch lunches, please join us for drinks should be a lot of fun. while you’re here this weekend. about some of the work we’re panel discussion throughout the on Saturday and Sunday. from 19:30 on Saturday evening, doing to create a tolerant world weekend. and for the Gala Dinner at 20:00. Many of us will be here As well as that link with where rational thinking and Coffee is served at 09:55 and because we are humanists organised humanism, kindness prevail. Members are 14:50 on Saturday, and 10:50 and There is no designated dress – people who think for Leicester’s humanist history invited to come along to the 13:55 on Sunday. code for the dinner; come as you themselves and act for is broader still. It was home Humanists UK AGM, which will feel most comfortable! everyone – and many of us to naturalist Alfred Russell be held on Sunday at 14:00, Lunch is served at 12:00 on both days. members of Humanists UK Wallace, who famously where you’ll have a chance as well. But whether you’re theorised evolution by natural to catch up on a year of Pastoral a paid-up member or just selection independently of great achievements and new Celebrant Support Section Leader curious about some of the Charles Darwin and inspired challenges for Humanists UK. ideas and values represented some of the latter’s work. Volunteer Young Humanists by humanism, I hope there’s Leicester University’s own LGBT Humanists something in this programme Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys, Local Group School for you. One of our most a patron of Humanists Chief Executive Defence Humanists Speaker Chairs important roles as a charity UK, developed the DNA Humanist Choirs Secretaries is to champion ideas for the fingerprinting techniques that Treasurers FRIDAY SATURDAY PM

16:00 Registration opens 15:10 On being human: an evolutionary humanist journey Dr 18:00 Bar opens 16:00 Break 19:00 Comedy night Tim McGarry, Kate Smurthwaite, Cally Beaton, Ed Byrne 16:10 At the front lines of humanism Baroness 19:50 Break 17:00 Close 20:10 Comedy resumes 19:00 Young Humanists Saturday night social 21:00 Drinks at cash bar For humanists aged 18–35

19:30 Gala Dinner drinks reception

20:00 Gala Dinner with SATURDAY SUNDAY

09:00 Welcome Andrew Copson 10:00 Welcome back

09:05 Navigating a polarised society: Is Brexit breaking British politics? 10:05 The work of Humanists UK in the last year Professor Sir John Curtice Luke Donnellan, Rhian Jones, Rachel Taggart-Ryan, Hamza bin Walayat, Andrew Copson

09:55 Coffee break 10:50 Coffee break

10:15 Defending the Human Rights Act 11:10 This view of life: completing the Darwinian revolution Sanchita Hosali David Sloan Wilson

11:00 Break 12:00 Lunch

11:10 A Woman’s War 13:00 Morals without religion Natalie Haynes Professor

12:00 Lunch 13:55 Close & coffee

13:00 Ending segregation and intolerance in schools 14:00 Humanists UK AGM Fiona Millar, Andrew Moffat, Aliyah Saleem, Dr Ruth Wareham, Felicity Hannah 16:00 Drinks with the trustees 13:50 Break

14:00 The Art of Not Falling Apart Christina Patterson, Amy Walden

14:50 Coffee break SESSIONS SESSIONS

On being human: an evolutionary humanist journey Friday night comedy Dr Adam Rutherford Tim McGarry, Kate Smurthwaite, Cally Beaton, Ed Byrne Saturday 15:10–16:00 Friday 19:00–Late Darwin cemented our position on evolution’s tree, an animal begotten not created. He also acknowledged A fun, easy, social start to the weekend! The bar opens at 18:00, and comedy kicks off at 19:00. And why that we are special, a conundrum of evolution, capable of such beautiful dreams (and horrible not stay for a few drinks with attendees old and new from around 21:00? nightmares), but biologically no different from all creatures. Science has chipped away at human exceptionalism – we are special, but all animals are too. What emerged in the last few tens of thousands Welcome of years in our forebears was the expansion of our minds, with art, culture, tools, sex for fun, and a whole Andrew Copson host of behaviours that we associate with being human. All of this was predicated on our unique desire to Saturday 09:00–09:05 share information. We, nature’s most paradoxical animal, are a species of teachers. Navigating a polarised society: Is Brexit breaking British politics? At the front lines of humanism Professor Sir John Curtice Baroness Joan Bakewell Saturday 09:05–09:55 Saturday 16:10–17:00 2017 was the year of the return of the two-party system in the . Or was it? In the wake of Joan Bakewell’s willingness to shed light on social issues, to push the envelope when it is the right thing the Brexit impasse, and with the results of the European Parliament elections last month, British political to do, and her enthusiasm for informing the public, whilst never patronising them, have made her an culture seems more uncertain than ever. Professor Sir John Curtice will help us navigate the choppy indispensable ally to humanists. She has challenged taboos around sex, examined religion from a critical waters of British politics. and objective standpoint, and has been a champion for arts, culture, and their relevance to life. She has long been a friend of Humanists UK, was awarded Humanist of the Year 2017, and is now Co-Chair of Defending the Human Rights Act the All Party Parliamentary Group. In conversation with Andrew Copson, we will hear tales – some funny, Sanchita Hosali some wise, all engaging – from a national treasure. Saturday 10:15–11:00 The Human Rights Act incorporated into UK law all the rights contained in the European Convention The work of the Humanists UK in the last year on Human Rights – the right to life, liberty, and security; free from torture and slavery; freedom of Luke Donnellan, Rhian Jones, Rachel Taggart-Ryan, Hamza bin Walayat, Andrew Copson conscience, religion, expression, and much more. And yet, it is under threat. Sanchita Hosali will examine Sunday 10:00–10:50 this scepticism and mount a defence of one of the most important pieces of legislation of As busy as ever, we will report on some of our great successes in the last 12 months. Campaigns Officer the last 20 years. Rachel Taggart-Ryan will explain how assisting asylum seekers, fleeing their countries fearing persecution as humanists has become a larger part of our work, while Hamza bin Walayat, recently granted A Woman’s War humanitarian leave to remain will tell his story. Director of Understanding Humanism Luke Donnellan and Natalie Haynes Education Coordinator Rhian Jones will dive into the incredible amount of work that’s gone into our two Saturday 11:10–12:00 very successful Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), educating tens of thousands of people across the The women whose lives who were affected by the Trojan War largely remained in the shadows, from UK and around the world about humanism. the Amazon warrior, Penthesilea, to the priestess who foresaw the war, Cassandra. In her new book A Thousand Ships, broadcaster, classicist, , and author Natalie Haynes has retold the story of the This view of life: completing the Darwinian revolution Trojan War from an all-female perspective. Professor David Sloan Wilson Sunday 11:10–12:00 Ending segregation and intolerance in schools Evolutionary theory (‘this view of life’) makes sense of everything associated with the word ‘biology’, but Fiona Millar, Andrew Moffat, Aliyah Saleem, Dr Ruth Wareham,Felicity Hannah how about everything associated with the worlds ‘human’, ‘culture’, and ‘policy’? Even humanists who Saturday 13:00–13:50 accept evolution as a matter of course often don’t apply it to their professional and personal lives. David In 2019, organised religion continues to play an outsized and outdated role in our children’s education. will argue how modern evolutionary science provides a practical toolkit for positive change at all scales, Taxpayer-funded faith schools may discriminate in favour of children whose (parents’) religious beliefs from individuals to the planet. align with the school’s ethos. And they may actively discriminate against nonreligious children, in favour of children from any other background. In recent months what began as an isolated protest outside a Morals without Religion Birmingham school has since spread, encouraging religious conservatives from across the country, all Professor Alice Roberts united in opposition to children learning that LGBT people exist. A diverse panel of experts with a range of experiences will tell us how we might go about ending segregation and intolerance in schools. Sunday 13:00–13:55 In 1955, Margaret Knight presented two talks on the Home Service, on this very theme. Knight’s philosophy is just as relevant – with faith schools proliferating and the Church of extending The Art of Not Falling Apart its power and influence in state education. And for Alice Roberts, the extraordinary backlash Christina Patterson, Amy Walden Saturday 14:00–14:50 experienced by Margaret Knight when she dared to express a humanist perspective on education is When life threw journalist Christina Patterson an involuntary-redundancy-shaped curveball, she decided shockingly familiar. to tear up the rule book. Dreaming of revenge and irritated by self-help books, she set out to interview others who had found themselves picking up the pieces of their lives. She shares some of the things she learned about how we cope when life goes wrong, without the crutch of religious faith. SPEAKERS SPEAKERS

Baroness Joan Bakewell Felicity Hannah Joan Bakewell is a Labour peer, and co-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Felicity Hannah is freelance journalist specialising in personal finance and Humanist Group (APPHG). Joan is a journalist and TV presenter, and has consumer affairs. Her work regularly appears in theIndependent , Mirror Online, led some of the BBC’s most well-remembered documentaries and news Yahoo Finance, and LoveMoney.com. In 2015 she was named Household Finance programmes, challenging taboos around sex; examining religion from a critical, Journalist of the Year at the prestigious Headlinemoney Awards. She also writes objective standpoint; and being a champion for arts and culture. She was named a popular parenting blog for Yahoo, and has written regularly online of her Humanist of the Year 2017. opposition to faith schools.

Cally Beaton Tony Hawks Cally Beaton is a natural storyteller full of intelligent, distinctive, and punchline- Tony Hawks is the author of the bestseller Round Ireland with a Fridge – the story rich material. She was listed in Chortle’s: 2017 To Watch and her of his absurd quest to hitch round the circumference of Ireland within a month... Finalist credits include: Fresh Comedy Knights 2016, Max Turner Prize 2016, Bath with a fridge. After being serialised on Radio 4, the book became a Sunday Times Comedy Festival 2016 and Gotham Comedy New Talent New York 2015. Cally bestseller. Tony has written five other books and is a frequent guest on TV onQI , took her first show, Cat Call, to Edinburgh in 2016 with comedy partner Catherine , They Think It’s All Over, A Bit of Fry and Laurie, and Red Bohart, where it received a Award. Her debut solo show, Super Dwarf. He’s a regular guest on Radio 4’s , I’m Sorry I Haven’t A Clue, Cally Fragile Lipstick, was a sell-out hit at Edinburgh in 2017. and The Unbelievable Truth.

Hamza bin Walayat Natalie Haynes Hamza bin Walayat is a humanist refugee from Pakistan. His application was Natalie Haynes is a writer and broadcaster. She writes for , and the deemed to be not ‘genuine’ by the Home Office, because he couldn’t identify Independent. Her first novel,The Amber Fury, was published to great acclaim on Plato and as humanists – despite both being religious. After a year- both sides of the Atlantic, as was The Ancient Guide to Modern Life, her previous long appeals process during which Humanists UK took up his case – including book. She has spoken on the modern relevance of the classical world on three delivering 12,000 signatures to Downing Street – Hamza was granted asylum in continents, from Cambridge to Chicago to Auckland. She is a regular contributor May 2019. While awaiting the decision, he completed his non-religious pastoral to BBC Radio 4: reviewing for Front Row and Saturday Review, and banging on care training with Humanists UK, and hopes to volunteer within the NHS. about Juvenal whenever she gets the chance.

Ed Byrne Sanchita Hosali Ed Byrne is a household name and an award-winning stand-up comedian, whom Sanchita Hosali is Director of the British Institue for Human Rights. She is many will know from his regular appearances on the . He a recognised expert in human rights and equality law, policy, and practice, is also a strong proponent of humanism, and has worked closely with Humanists with over fifteen years of working both in the UK and internationally and a UK on a number of its campaigns, including its campaign to raise awareness of the particular expertise in addressing violence against women from a human rights ‘No religion’ option on the 2011 Census and its high-profile calls to makeThought perspective. She has previously worked on human rights in the for the Day inclusive of humanists. In 2018, Ed also took part in BBC Two series The system, both at the Secretariat in New York and the World Health Organisation in Pilgrimage, in which Ed and six other celebrities walked the Camino de Santiago. Geneva.

Professor Sir John Curtice Rhian Jones John Curtice is the UK’s most eminent election polling expert. He regularly Rhian Jones has been the Education Coordinator for Humanists UK since appears on election night programmes, and has been involved in election September 2018. She helped to facilitate and develop the new online course, coverage since 1979. His general election exit polls have triggered disbelief (as in Humanist Lives, launched earlier this month, and also supports the resources 2010, 2015, and 2017) but as the hours passed have always been vindicated. He and school speaker service offered by Understanding Humanism. Rhian is also is President of the British Polling Council, and a Senior Research the Project Coordinator for LGBT Humanists. Fellow at NatCen Social Research. He received a knighthood in the 2018 New Year Honours.

Luke Donnellan Tim McGarry Luke Donnellan is Director of Understanding Humanism at Humanists UK. As Tim McGarry is the long-standing host of BBC One ’s The Blame well as promoting understanding of humanism, especially in formal education Game, well-known in Northern Ireland for starring in the comedy Give My Head settings, he manages Humanists UK’s school speakers programme, teacher Peace. He recently compèred a sell-out event for Northern Ireland Humanists training and CPD, and the production of educational resources. Before joining in Belfast called ‘A Night of Humanism’. He has been celebrated critics for being Humanists UK, he was a primary school teacher and maths leader. He also ‘sensitive, courageous, excoriating and funny... a comedian of the people, for the worked as a freelance philosophy teacher in both primary and secondary schools, people’. He is a patron of Northern Ireland Humanists. having trained with SAPERE and The Philosophy Foundation. SPEAKERS SPEAKERS

Fiona Millar Kate Smurthwaite Fiona Millar, a patron of Humanists UK, is a journalist specialising in education Kate Smurthwaite is a left-wing, feminist, atheist stand-up comedian and and parenting issues. She worked in Downing Street as a special adviser to political activist. She performs all over the UK and around the world at major the Prime Minister between 1997 and 2003, and was then Chair of the Family clubs including The Comedy Store, The Stand, Covent Garden Comedy Club, and and Parenting Institute until 2010. She co-authored a book of interviews with Soho Comedy Club. She also writes and tours an annual solo show of highbrow prominent women, By Faith and Daring with , another Humanists left wing comedy under the name The News At Kate which has been a feature UK patron, in 1993. She is a vocal opponent of faith schools. of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival since 2009. In 2013 she won a Three Weeks’ Editor’s Choice Award naming her one of the ten best things about the Fringe.

Andrew Moffat Rachel Taggart-Ryan Andrew Moffat is Assistant Headteacher at Parkfield School in Birmingham, Rachel Taggart-Ryan is Campaigns Officer at Humanists UK. Her work covers a and author of the No Outsiders programme. He was runner up in the global wide range of issues in Public Affairs and Policy, and has increasingly focused on ‘World’s Best Teacher’ award in 2019. The No Outsiders programme is designed asylum work. It is thanks to Rachel’s work that Hamza bin Walayat, along to teach the Equality Act to children. Parkfield saw protests from mostly Muslim with many other humanist asylum seekers, have been granted leave to parents, unhappy their children would learn about the mere existence of LGBTQ remain in the UK. people. Such protests have now spread across the country, adopted by religious conservatives of all persuasions.

Christina Patterson Amy Walden Christina Patterson is a writer and broadcaster, writing for , Amy Walden is a trustee of Humanists UK, and is Chair of the Non-Religious the Guardian, and the Daily Mail about society, politics, and books. She is a Pastoral Support Network. In 2011, Amy initiated humanist pastoral support in regular commentator on radio and TV and a regular guest on the Sky News press prisons with a pilot project at HMP Winchester. This proved successful, with the preview. The Art of Not Falling Apart was picked as a Book of the Year by initiative now being introduced in other prisons. She is part of a team training the and the Mail on Sunday, which hailed it as ‘a manual on how Humanists UK members to deliver humanist pastoral support in prisons and to survive in the 21st-century’. She is a trustee of Shaw Trust, a charity which hospitals across the country as well as within the armed forces. helps people enter work, improve their wellbeing, or rebuild their lives.

Professor Alice Roberts Dr Ruth Wareham Alice Roberts is an anatomist, paleontologist, author, broadcaster, and President Ruth Wareham is Education Campaigns Manager at Humanists UK, campaigning of Humanists UK. She is the author of nine popular science books, and, on TV, for an end to state religious schools and religious discrimination in school has presented a wide range of biology and archaeology programmes, including admissions, the eradication of closed-minded and narrow religious education The Incredible Human Journey, as well as Origins of Us. She presents the long- and compulsory collective worship in schools; and for the introduction of running archaeology series Digging for Britain on BBC4, and Britain’s Most comprehensive, inclusive, and accurate relationships and sex education in all Historic Town. She delivered the RI Christmas Lectures in 2018. She is a vocal schools. She earned her PhD studying religious schools, and was previously a opponent of faith schools. teacher.

Dr Adam Rutherford Professor David Sloan Wilson Adam Rutherford is an evolutionary biologist, geneticist, author, and broadcaster. David Sloan Wilson is SUNY Distinguished Professor of Biology and Anthropology He is the presenter of BBC Radio 4’s flagship science radio programme,Inside at Binghamton University in New York, USA. He is best known for championing Science, as well as many documentaries; on the inheritance of intelligence, on Multilevel Selection Theory, which shows (contra ‘Selfish Gene’ thinking) MMR and autism, human evolution, astronomy and art, and the evolution of sex. how adaptations can evolve – or fail to evolve – at any level of a multi-tier His book A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived was published in 2016, and hierarchy, such as from genes to ecosystems in nature or small groups to global The Book of Humans was published in 2018. governance in human societies. As president of the Evolution Institute he applies these powerful ideas to improve the quality of life in real-world settings. His most recent book, This View of Life: Completing the Darwinian Revolution, was Aliyah Saleem published by Pantheon press this year. Aliyah Saleem is Chair of Faith to Faithless, which she co-founded in 2015 and is now a Humanists UK program. She was born into a Sunni Muslim family and was educated at an ultra-conservative Islamic girls’ private boarding school in Nottingham. She now advocates for secular education. Her first book,Leaving Faith Behind, was published in 2018. humanists.uk/join

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