As this is the first time we’ve encountered each other Nikki, I hope you won’t think me too presumptuous if I say that I think you have a great voice and that’s it’s really enjoyable to listen to you or Vanessa in the early morning hours. Behind a voice is always a person, so it’s great to be able to put the sound with the individual.

Yours is a very important job – to talk to us and give us all a bit of inspiration to start the day. That’s handy because ‘inspiring language’ is the theme of this week’s Pauses for Thought - thanks to a United Nations initiative that wants to encourage ‘Mother Languages’ to thrive.

Mother languages! I don’t think the UN has in mind the kind of mother language I hear in the supermarket from time to time. I think of that harassed parent of a squawking three year old bellowing at the top of her voice about taking away all toys and treats unless the child shuts up and does what they’re told. I feel sorry for the child – and for the mother too. It’s no fun for anyone when the shopping creates such tension and aggravation. I’m sure the mother has some wisdom to pass on to her child, but simply bawling lots of threats may not be the best way of increasing understanding.

So how do you best receive good advice? In the supermarket it isn’t just people who speak … machines do too. The voice which tells you about an ‘unknown object in the bagging area’ normally comes from a piece of technology. Personally, I like the freedom to ignore machine voices. It gives me great pleasure not to listen to the directions of a SatNav. I enjoy hearing the calm, uncritical voice of the machine telling me that it’s ‘recalculating’ ... though I do admit to getting lost more than I should.

The ancient book of Proverbs says ‘Listen to advice and accept instruction, and in the end you will be wise’. The trouble is we’re surrounded by advice and instruction everywhere we turn. ‘Leave a message after you’ve heard the tone’, ‘mind the gap’, ‘Have you swiped your loyalty card?’ … yes yes, yes… it’s not surprising we’ve become a bit cynical.

We need voices and words that inspire which is maybe why the ancient wisdom of the book of Proverbs has survived through the centuries. ‘Stupid people follow their own advice’ it says ‘… but the wise listen’.