Celebrating the appointment of writer, broadcaster and former Blue Peter presenter Jane Ellis as Humanists UK president. Ilford Recorder and Barking and Dagenham Post January 2026
A recent announcement came as a tonic, to me at least, amidst much gloomy news. Hopefully it will resonate with others looking for calm, reason and hope in a world seemingly stuck in a doom loop.
I’m talking about the appointment of Janet Ellis as the new President of Humanists UK. Her name won’t be familiar to everyone, but she is a prolific broadcaster and writer. Many will remember her as a presenter on BBC’s Blue Peter, the longest running children’s TV show in the world, first broadcast in 1958.
Janet once described Blue Peter as offering “…a view of a world worth growing up in.” Those words alone encapsulate a Humanist vision. She intends using her presidency “to help more people navigate these increasingly tumultuous times, seeing the way through to a better, kinder world, by helping them explore their non-religious beliefs and connect to one another.” She also wants to “champion humanist values as an antidote to rising fear, distrust, and alienation across society.”
Janet is the latest of a string of Presidents who have in their different ways promoted non-religious ideas embodying social progress, compassion, reason and a joie de vivre. They include Ramsay Madonald, later to become Prime Minister, George Melly, the jazz singer, and Claire Rayner, renowned ‘Agony Aunt.’ Janet takes over from Adam Rutherford, geneticist and broadcaster, whose best-selling book ‘How to Argue with a Racist’ demolishes the unscientific ignorance underpinning racial bigotry.
We are up against it. The ‘Unite the Kingdom’ rally in London last September provided a platform for extreme Chistian nationalism, including a banner denouncing Humanism. Elon Musk spoke via video link, echoing messages from the US Christian right. In October a mob calling itself the Kings Army marched blackshirt style in military formation through Soho’s Old Compton Street shouting ‘Jesus Saves’ and anti-gay slogans.
All this comes as US evangelical organisations pour millions into funding campaigns here against women’s rights, LGBT rights, and others. The aim is to dismantle universal human rights in favour of a xenophobic religiously motivated social order. Danny Kruger, newly defected to Reform from the Tories, called for a Christian revival during a speech in Parliament, asserting that ‘to worship human rights is to worship fairies.’
We are all the Blue Peter generation. We have our work cut out to secure Janet’s vision of ‘a world worth growing up in.’
Paul Kaufman. Chairperson East London Humanists.
