Terry Waite - Thirty Four Years On: The Price of Losing the Moral High Ground

When I first met Terry Waite, it wasn’t planned. As a radio presenter, I’d been told I might get the chance to ask him a question when he visited his favorite charity Emmaus, but when he walked in, he simply said, “Right, where do you want me?” There was a crowd of media waiting, yet somehow, I was the first to speak with him.

I was completely unprepared and honestly quite nervous; I knew the subjects we were about to touch on could be divisive. But from the moment he walked in, Terry Waite radiated humility, warmth, and connection, and I was forced to dive straight in. I’m so glad I did.

Seventeen years after his release from captivity in Beirut, Waite spoke with remarkable honesty about rebuilding his life, his support for Emmaus and its community-based approach to homelessness, and his belief in treating every person with dignity. But it was his comments on the global political landscape that made this interview unforgettable.

He openly condemned the West’s use of torture, extraordinary rendition, and Guantánamo Bay, calling them “crass stupidity” that had caused the loss of our moral high ground. At the time, those words were controversial. Listening back now, with the benefit of two more decades of global conflict, radicalisation, and fractured diplomacy, it’s impossible not to see how right he was.

Terry also reflected on religion’s dual role as both comfort and conflict, calling it “an awful nuisance” when misused , and spoke passionately about the need for intercultural understanding, long before those conversations became central to public discourse.

Listening again all these years later, I’m struck not only by his foresight, but by his unshakable belief in humanity and dialogue. It remains one of the most memorable interviews I’ve ever recorded.

Originally recorded for gsfcuk.com, The Gloria Swanson Fan Club. Digitally remastered from the original broadcast.