RADIO CHOICE

DENIAL is, initially, a useful basic instinct. It allows us to cope with serious situations without becoming gibbering wrecks; but persisting in denial is dangerous. In today’s instalment of her week-long series THE AGE OF DENIAL (RADIO 4, 1.45PM), the journalist Isabel Hardman looks at our talent for self-deception.

WHEN she was a child, the Canadian comedian Mae Martin (pictured) had an obsession with Bette Midler. Looking back at her younger self, Mae realised that this all-consuming obsession was a bit of an indicator that she had an addictive personality. In the first of her honest and funny series MAE MARTIN’S GUIDE TO 21ST CENTURY ADDICTION (RADIO 4, 6.30PM), she looks at the early roots of some of her

various addictions, from which she is now free.

UNCERTAINTY is frowned on these days, while keeping a positive attitude, whatever the circumstances, is highly praised. Mark Vernon — who was once a clergyman in the Church of England and is now a psychotherapist and writer — gives the first of this year’s LENT TALKS (RADIO 4, 8.45PM). Drawing on the Gospel story of Doubting Thomas, Mark explores the importance of doubt as a tool for change, and considers why closed-minded certainty is something to be avoided.