I love coming here.  I don’t say it often enough, but thank you for having me.

The atmosphere is warm and welcoming, the conversation sparkling and the new coffee machine more than adequate.

Even so, this is, to say the least, a mildly intimidating environment on a Friday morning.

Over there is that bloke out of all those films, who turns into a fly and also plays the piano (Jeff Goldblum).

Over there is the man who can remember the Beatles and is also off EastEnders (Himesh Patel).

Over there is David the Baker, to whom many congratulations (David Atherton).

And over there is Beverly Knight, for heaven’s sake.  Beverly Knight.

As a strange hybrid art historian/curator/charlatan, I’m not altogether sure where I fit into this rather exclusive company.

Still. I do love a bit of exclusivity. I love to belong, to be special, to be chosen.  We all do.  We’re all here this morning secretly delighted that Graham, the King of the Prod Squad, chose us.

Even so, exclusivity is a tricky thing. On the one hand, the word has become so overused as to be almost meaningless.

We say that a block of flats is an exclusive collection of luxury apartments in an exclusive gated community; or an email from a shop that sells pants is an exclusive opportunity to access exclusive offers, available exclusively online to an exclusive group of selected customers.

More significantly though, the trouble with exclusivity is that it necessarily brings exclusion: for every person cosy on the inside, there are a hundred more cold and on the outside.

Suddenly, it’s hard to see why it’s such popular idea.

In the Bible, the prophet Joel has a vision of a community where no one is excluded, where God pours out her spirit on everybody: the old the young, the male, the female, the outcasts and undesirables, those who belong and those who really don’t.

And with all due respect to this exclusive gathering, that’s the community I’d like to be part of.

It’s the kind of community that expresses itself in love and encouragement, in shared effort and shared resources; in everything opposed to exclusivity. It’s the kind of community that millions of people will be expressing when they get down and dirty in a couple of weeks to raise money for Children in Need.

And, honestly, I don’t think it’s just the children.  I reckon that’s the kind of community we all need.

Friday guests were Beverly Knight, David Atherton (Bake Off), Himesh Patel and Jeff Goldblum. Beverly Knight sang Satisfaction which was outstanding. The whole Friday thing is very weird.

There’s no recording of this one.