The think tank Theos unfailingly fields an enticing speaker for its annual lecture. There have been politicians (Michael Gove, Tim Farron), writers (Terry Eagleton, Marilynne Robinson), and religious leaders (Rowan Williams, Jonathan Sacks).

THE THINK TANK Theos unfailingly fields an enticing speaker for its annual lecture. There have been politicians (Michael Gove, Tim Farron), writers (Terry Eagleton, Marilynne Robinson), and religious leaders (Rowan Williams, Jonathan Sacks). But never until last week had they hosted a comedian. Sally Phillips is familiar to audiences of Smack the Pony, Veep and Bridget Jones’s Diary. She also, in 2016, fronted an unforgettable documentary, A World Without Down’s Syndrome?

Sally’s son Olly has Down’s, and he was the inspiration for a memorable lecture. At Olly’s birth in 2004, the lights seemed to go out. Sally felt she’d never work again, that her life was over. It took about a year for the lights to come back on, illuminating “a whole new stage set”. She began to realise that Olly was a huge blessing, was making her “more fully human”, “freer”. She offered the Theos audience sobering facts – perhaps most shocking was that the NHS allows the abortion of a Down’s baby right up to labour.

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