Last month James Damore, a 28-year-old software engineer, was fired by Google after his critique of the company’s affirmative action policies was leaked online. The full text of the now infamous 10-page memo argued that average biological group differences between men and women ‘in part’ explain the current low representation of women in the tech […]

Last week we saw the return of the London Family Planning Summit, with senior government officials, NGO representatives and business leaders committing billions in additional funding with a view to getting 120 million more women and girls using ‘modern’ methods of family planning by 2020. The British Government alone pledged to increase its International Development department’s […]

Terrence Malick’s most recent film, which received its UK theatrical release this weekend, is readily being described as the completion of a cinematic trilogy. The thematic unity of ‘contemporary soul-searching’ in Terrence Malick’s To the Wonder (2012), Knight of Cups (2015) and, now, Song to Song, alongside the aesthetic consistency of their highly fragmented, narrative-resistant forms, begins to justify this claim. […]

This is the third and final part in a series of reflections on the 2017 UK General Election. Shortly after the recent General Election the leader of the Liberal Democrats, Tim Farron, offered his resignation, issuing a statement which declared that he had found the tension between ‘remaining faithful to Christ’ and leading his party to be irresolvable. This came after a muted […]

This is the second in a 3-part series of reflections on the 2017 UK General Election. The 2017 General Election first and foremost marked a return to two-party politics. Though neither party secured a parliamentary majority, the Conservatives and Labour simultaneously received their highest vote shares since 1983 and 1997 respectively. At the same time, the Scottish National […]

This is the first in a 3-part series of reflections on the 2017 UK General Election. Only eleven months ago, Theresa May delivered a much-lauded opening address just outside 10 Downing Street, in which she extolled the virtues of ‘One Nation’ conservatism. Whilst a passing mention was made of her predecessor, her firm pledge to ‘fight against […]

Our last blog post started by describing 2016 as an atypical year. That year is now over – and it truly was exceptional in various respects. It seems pertinent to reflect with a little hindsight on what happened in the twelve months to 31 December last. Politically, socially, culturally – and even locally here at […]

2016 was in many respects an atypical year. In the political arena, two events confounded and unnerved the grandees of establishment media: Brexit, and, in the U.S.A., the Republican nomination for the US presidential election. Donald Trump made headlines with his brash style, irascible temperament and often controversial statements – among which his denouncing of […]