Live from Charlotte Square

Chritos Tsiolkas

"The controversy that The Slap has generated in the UK seems to be misplaced when Tsiolkas explains his rationale. He is a man passionate about those issues that he discusses, at the same time both friendly and warm and prepared to discuss them with audience members and, accordingly, he was received warmly." (Nick Eardley)

Philip Pullman and Richard Harries (former Bishop of Oxford)

"There was sparring. Unsurprisingly, the pair disagreed on elements of Pullman’s portrayal of Jesus as manipulated by institutionalised religion. But there was also a remarkable aura of agreement." (Nick Eardley)

John Browne (former BP chief executive)

"He came across as highly intelligent and precise in his answers. He elicited genuine sympathy for his harsh treatment in being very publicly outed as gay by the media, which he described as the saddest time of his life.

There is a coldness about his personality that will fail to disarm BP’s harshest critics, and may lead to suggestions of callousness when he publishes his long-awaited review into higher education funding later this year." (Neil Pooran)

Karl Marlantes (Vietnam veteran)

"His descriptions of post traumatic stress disorder were harrowing. After years as a successful business consultant, he found he was unable to put the horrors of war behind him when a vivid hallucination of corpses lying on his boardroom table heralded a period of mental decline." (Neil Pooran)