Great Uncle Fred? Everyone else in my family believes in God except me. They say God, and only God, can explain all mysteries. But electricity used to be a mystery! I think science will one day have an explanation for all mysteries. What do you think? (Euan, Autumn 2007)

Well, to start with, can we leave God out of this? I think He might confuse the issue a little bit - one might believe in the ultimate mysteriousness of mysteries without necessarily believing in God. Anyway, are all mysteries just waiting to be explained by science? Well, I live in a part of the country where you can still see the stars. Do you? If so, you are very lucky. There are not many people in Britain who ever get to see the stars and I think that that is a serious deprivation. I think the roof of the House of Commons should give the MPs a good view of the rest of the Universe. I do not see how we can understand anything without taking a good look at our millions of neighbours out there. And when you look, on a clear night in a part of the country unaffected by light pollution, you realise that this is something so vast and complex and random yet seemingly arranged, that you will never ever understand it. I understand that I shall never understand. I like mystery. I embrace it. I do not think it possible that science could explain everything I see in the night sky. But then again, I would not want it to. I believe that science has recently explained how the bumblebee can fly. Has it got to grips yet with the causes of thunder? Long live the mystery!

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