Today presenters slam “deeply, deeply boring” Thought for the Day

Asked what he thought of Thought for the Day he said: “Deeply, deeply boring, often. Sometimes not. Sometimes it’s good and the guy or woman is delivering an interesting thought in a provocative way. Usually not. It seems to me inappropriate that Today should broadcast nearly three minutes of uninterrupted religion, given that rather more than half our population have no religion at all. Certainly very few of them are practising Christians… we have Hindus of course, and we have the occasional Muslim, the occasional Jew, but by and large it’s Christian. Why?"

Challenging his colleagues on the Radio 4 news programme, Humphrys added, “When you’re presenting it, how many times have you said to yourself, 'Dear God, we’ve got to cut a really fascinating programme short because we’re now going to hear somebody tell us that Jesus was really nice, and the world could be a better place if we all…' You know… Oh God.”

Humphrys' colleague Justin Webb also criticised the slot, which airs for two minutes and 45 seconds at 7.45am and features a range of thinkers reflecting on a religious or spiritual theme.

They're all roughly the same,” Webb said. "'If everyone was nicer to everyone else, it would be fine'. But from my cursory glance around the world, I think a lot of religious people don’t want to be nice to each other."

However, presenter Mishal Husain defended Thought for the Day: “I think it’s a bit of punctuation in the programme," she said, adding, "For me it’s the time I need to be out of the house, when I’m late.”

Fellow presenter Nick Robinson said he occasionally saw the value of the section.

“Do you know what, when Jonathan Sacks, the former chief rabbi, does it, I listen. There are a few people who are just profound. Profound."

Read the full interview in this week’s Radio Times, on sale in store and online from Tuesday 31st October