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Thanks Philip for joining us today and thanks to all of you out there for your great questions. Unfortunately that’s all the questions we have time for today, sorry to those people who’s questions we weren’t able to answer.

 Philip S said:  Thank you for all your questions and your time. Samaritans are there 24 hours a day, every day of the year and if you need to talk i hope you'll feel able to contact them. Ta. xx

Nick2 wants to know: "With your marathon and the donation of one track, Radiohead have bound their name to the Samaritans. What led you to choose this charity among the others?"

Philip S said:  I've been involved with Samaritans for the past 17 years so that's an obvious link! However Samaritans are a strong part of every community in the UK and Ireland and together with their 24 hour availability, this makes them such a worthwhile charity to support.

marybeth wants to know: "Phil, ever been tempted to don the giant telephone suit I've seen Samaritans volunteers wear? You'd look fantastic! "

Philip S said:  If Samaritans considered making one of these suits in scale with one of those natty little Nokia's, then i might consider it!!!

_dylan_ wants to know: "is there much training involved in being a samaritan?"

Philip S said:  Well the training is thorough in order to ensure you feel confident in dealing with calls. The training concentrates on developing your active listening skills. Existing volunteers under take ongoing training annually.

  Giovana wants to know: "How serious is the issue of emotional health in contemporary society? "

Philip S said:  It is predicted that by the year 2020 depression will be the second biggest killer in the world according to the World Health Organisation. Also someone somewhere takes their own life every 2 hours. These are chilling statistics and i think they speak for themselves in considering emotional health in our society.

  Matty wants to know: "Is it true that you'll be singing on one of the new tracks?"

Philip S said:  My vocal talents have just been given a long period of gardening! Thom's backing vocal bumped mine off a track (you might be pleased to know).

  Mikee wants to know: "What's more satisfying - your work with Radiohead or the Samaritans?"

Philip S said:  Radiohead and Samaritans have had a parrallel existence in my life since 1986. Each draws on different elements of who i am.

Polymnie wants to know: "i'd love to be a Volunteer but i'm scared i'll never be able to cope with some difficult calls. how does volunteers deal with those?"

Philip S said:  ...I believe that you will always find the appropriate thing to say to a caller if you are listening properly. Inevitably you leave some calls with mixed up feelings which can be difficult to deal with but you will always off load these on to other volunteers before you go home. And this is something we encourage rather than carrying the burden yourself.

  Polymnie wants to know: "i'd love to be a Volunteer but i'm scared i'll never be able to cope with some difficult calls. how does volunteers deal with those?"

Philip S said:  As a volunteer, you always have the support of other Samaritans in your branch. This doesn't compromise the callers confidentiality at all...

  CS wants to know: "A silly question, perhaps, but given your extensive work with the Samaritans, how does it make you feel when people describe Radiohead's music as "depressing"?"

Philip S said:  Not a silly question considering how many people have said our music is depressing! Obviously i don't see it that way. Thom confronts uncomfortable issues in his lyrics but ultimately there's always a sense of moving through these and i feel the music is uplifting. Cheers!

  stvn wants to know: "Phil, I suffer from depression and have often considered taking my own life, what can listening volunteers actually offer the person on the other end of the phone? Thanks"

Philip S said:  Every Samaritan volunteer will offer you the space and emotional support to talk through these painful feelings. We can ensure complete confidentiality and will never judge what you say. You are in control of the call at every stage and you don't have to do anything you don't want to. The National number for Samaritans is 08457 90 90 90

 chiapet wants to know: "What can people do on their own, in their community to assist the cause, aside from being an official member of the campaign?"

Philip S said:  The campaign's about the importance of talking about feelings rather than bottling them up! So everyone can get involved by making sure they're watching out for their friends and people they know to be there for them and making sure they can talk about things if they're down.

 jaxx wants to know: "i think it's really good that you are using your position in a positive way for others "

Philip S said:  Thanks jaxx.

  matt_e wants to know: "How involved are the other members of Radiohead within the samaritans (if at all)?"

Philip S said:  The other members of the band are very sympathetic to the work of Samaritans and support myself and the organisation whole heartedly.

 matt_e wants to know: "how much training was involved before you started the marathon?"

Philip S said:  I started training 5 months before the marathon and finished about a week later!! My excuses for not training harder varied from legitimate sports injuries to over commitment with Samaritans...

  jaxx wants to know: "what exactly does being a samaritan involve? is it just taking calls or do you go out into the community?"

Philip S said:  In my time as a listening volunteer, the majority of my contact with callers was either on the phone or face-to-face in the Samaritan branch. However, Samaritans recognize the benefits of getting out in the community with services such as prison listeners, festival branches, school talks and other events in the community.

  cheshirecat wants to know: "do you ever get the chance to answer the phone for samaritans now and again ?"

Philip S said:  I'm currently taking a rest from being a listening volunteer. I'm concentrating on supporting Samaritans through publicity and fundraising.

  phil fan wants to know: "How might I become a member?"

Philip S said:  Contact your local branch and they will invite you to their next open evening. There you will be able to find out more about Samaritans from volunteers and after this, if you're still interested you will be interviewed to find out if you have the right qualities. After this, there is a period of preperation which generally lasts 7 weeks before you go on the phones. Go to www.samaritans.org to find out more, it's in the "Can you help" section

  marybeth wants to know: "Hey Phil! What has been the most rewarding part of your work with the Samaritans?"

Philip S said:  In some ways, i feel that i have taken more out of my experience of being a volunteer than i have put in! It is a wonderful organisation to be a part of. It is a privelege to be allowed into people's lives in this way and to work alongside some incredible people at the same time.

  Dave wants to know: "It's obviously easier for young people to feel a connection to their favourite bands than to a charity like Samaritans, for instance. Could your involvement bridge this gap?"

Philip S said:  I would hope that using the profile of the band could steer people towards Samaritans. The more people that acknowledge the distress and emotional difficulties encountered by others, the better. We hope that our support of Samaritans will add to a breakdown of the taboo surrounding these issues.

Nat wants to know: "Is it difficult to reconcile your day-job with your role into the Samaritans? "

Philip S said:  As with many volunteers, i have found time in amongst my work commitments to be a Samaritan volunteer. The nature of my work is quite flexible so i'm lucky, but in the past i've had to do a lot of juggling.

  Lynn wants to know: "Why did you become a Samaritan?"

Philip S said:  I became a Samaritan when i was a student in Liverpool. I saw a flyer for the combined Nightline and Samaritan service which outlined the qualities that they were looking for in potential volunteers; The ability to listen, non-judgementallyand to give people the space and emotional support to explore their feelings. This struck a chord with me andwas something i felt that i coulddo. Plus the fact i was trying to impress awoman on my course! Unfortunately confidentiality and anonymity got in the way of that one, and my natural charm didn't win out :(

  Andy wants to know: "I heard you raised over £20k for Samaritans last year running the London Marathon. Well done! Any more fundraising plans in the pipeline?"

Philip S said:  I'm all run out for the moment! So no more Marathons imminently, but we've offered to let MTV use one of our tracks, an old B-side called "Meeting in the Aisle" to be the sound track for a film competition aimed at getting young people to submit films around the idea of talking.

 Rach wants to know: "So many people say Brits don't like talking about mental illness and depression. Can you give a reason for that? "

Philip S said:  This is purely my opinion, we aren't a very good nation with opening up and showing our feelings. We're still blighted by that stiff upper lip. That's one of the things that Samaritans want to address, to put emotional issues and put it out there in public and start to try and break that taboo.

  Will wants to know: "What's the hardest thing of being a volunteer? "

 Philip S said:  I think it's not knowing what happens to the calers whenyou leave the call. You generally have a feel of whether you've made a positive difference in somebody's life, but again anything could happen from there on in. One thing about Samaritans is you always have the opportunity to talk through your anxieties after the cals, but there's always that element of not quite knowing what might happen.

Moderator said:  Hello and welcome to today's chat with Radiohead's Philip Selway. He's here ready to answer all your questions so let's get started with the first question...