I listened to the Jeremy Vine show and JV was just doing what he is paid to do - provoke debate. The chap defending the role of pilots (ex BALPA, sorry can't remember his name) didn't put forward a very convincing argument. All I can recall him saying was that humans were better at 'detecting thunderstorms'...err, I'm not sure about that.
It is a pity that someone like John Farley wasn't asked to contribute.