Cross Section

Peter Lynas, Danny Webster and Alicia Edmund unpack this week's headlines. They cover the controversy around Andy Burnham and Keir Starmer - what is happening with the Labour Party? Conversation also covers ICE and Trump and the ongoing conversation around migration and the recent scandal involving Bethel. 

The team then pull back the curtain to look at this cultural and political era - how do we engage and act as people of hope at this significant time?

This week's biggest news stories are discussed by the Cross Section team. They unpack the rising discussion around banning social media for under 16s - should this happen? What would it look like if it did?

Conversation moves onto the many defections to Reform that we have seen. Last Sunday saw Robert Jenrick, others have followed, who could be next?

The episode concludes in reaction to the alarming rise in abortions as 2023's statistics were released last week. Are we talking about this enough in our churches? How can we respond?

Social media bans, global chaos and rising abortion numbers: Christians react - Evangelical Alliance

0:00 - Introduction
1:42 - Conversion therapy and the Traitors
3:14 - Trump and Greenland
6:46 - Darlington nurses victory
11:18 - Social media ban debate
21:09 - Political defections
32:07 - Abortion statistics and reactions

Cross Section is back for 2026. In this week's episode Peter Lynas, Alicia Edmund and Danny Webster discuss the dominating stories from the first two weeks of the year. This includes all that has been happening across the globe in the US, Venezuela, Greenland and Iran. Discussion moves onto the controversy around Grok AI and other cultural stories and how Christians can engage and respond.

https://www.newstatesman.com/international-politics/2026/01/the-age-of-invasion

https://samf.substack.com/p/interview-with-john-bew-adviser-to?utm_campaign=email-half-post&r=i2ju&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

In the final episode of Cross Section of 2025, Peter Lynas, Danny Webster, Alicia Edmund and Zanna Meynell sit down to reflect on the key political, cultural and spiritual trends and moments from the year. They discuss the increase in popularity of both Reform and the Green party, the ongoing prevalence of Christian nationalism and The Quiet Revival findings. The team test their knowledge with a competitive quiz and offer some predictions for 2026.

In the penultimate episode of 2025, Peter Lynas, Alicia Edmund and Zanna Meynell discuss some of the biggest cultural and political conversations through a Biblical lens. How can we be brave and kind when talking about the welfare state and asylum system? The team also discuss rage-baiting – Oxford University Press’s word of the year. 

The welfare state, asylum system and rage baiting - Evangelical Alliance