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Can we still find things to laugh about in the world of politics? Spitting Image puppets may be back, but Connie will be finding out about the new platforms that are seeing satirists thrive, in the company of ‘The Room Next Door’ comedian and writer Michael Spicer; and novelist and former journalist, Christopher Brookmyre.

In the latest in a series of Andrea Baker presented reports from Alabama to mark Black History Month, she talks to Bryan Stevenson who established the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery. He wrote the bestseller book - Just Mercy - which was turned into a film last year. Andrea also visits the museum opened by the EJI examining slavery, lynching and mass incarceration of African Americans.

2020 has made many of us more aware of our mortality, with daily reminders of the toil Covid-19 is taking. Next weekend a 3-day series of virtual events will be examining different aspects of grief. Author and psychotherapists Julia Samuel, and Jane Harris - who founded The Good Grief Project - talk about why the Good Grief Festival has attracted more than 7,000 people so far.

An initiative that started with women in Glasgow coming together to share food and stories has just seen the launch of a recipe book with a difference. It includes contributions from torture survivors, sharing their diverse cultural heritages, and stories reflecting on their childhood. It also explores their new lives here, and what it means for them to be Scottish. Connie talks to Fiona Crombie, a psychotherapist who leads clinical services in the Glasgow centre for Freedom From Torture; and BJ, one of the contributors to the book.

More things in common or more things that divide? A new book, ‘Judaism, Christianity and Islam: An Introduction to Monotheism’ traces these three religions’ heritage. Two of its authors, Aman De Sondy, Senior Lecturer in Contemporary Islam at University College Cork, and Michelle Gonzalez Maldonado, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Scranton, USA, talk to Connie about their collaboration.

What does it mean to be a witch? As we face ecological, political, social and global health crises, witchcraft is experiencing a resurgence. Author Dr Alice Tarbuck’s new book ‘A Spell in the Wild’ aims to answer this intriguing question.