Nearly half the adults questioned in the most recent British Social Attitudes Survey said they had ‘no religion’, up from 31 per cent in 1983 and 43 per cent a decade ago. The figure now stands at 49 per cent. The survey, carried out every year since 1983, asked around 3,000 adults in the UK […]

If God exists, says Stephen Fry, then he is an ‘utterly evil, capricious monster’. It is worth bearing in mind that, in the context of his interview for Irish television’s (RTE‘s) The Meaning of Life, Gay Byrne was not asking Fry to speculate on the concept of a Creator in the vague terms sometimes proffered by Hollywood celebrities. Byrne began, […]

Britain’s Conservative led government has just approved a significant increase in minimum wages, the first real-terms increase since 2008. The cries of low-paid workers have finally reached the ears of market libertarians in this season of party conferences prior to next year’s general election. Debates about the minimum wage have received wide coverage in the […]

In early October the Northern Ireland Department of Justice Minister, David Ford, announced a consultation on whether Northern Ireland should allow abortion in the case of what is styled ‘lethal foetal abnormality’. Essentially, Northern Ireland, which has hitherto maintained a relatively consistent legislative position that recognises and upholds the inalienable right to life of the […]

The British media are once again awash with articles on Lord Falconer’s Assisted Dying [assisted suicide] Bill, as members of the House of Lords began reviewing and debating it yesterday, Friday 7 November. The Bill, purportedly based on the US State of Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act, received its second reading in the Lords on […]

Professor John Finnis delivered the 5th annual Anscombe Memorial Lecture at St John’s College, Oxford, entitled “Body and Soul: on Anscombe’s ‘royal road’ to true belief.’” The event was chaired by Professor Luke Gormally, hosted by the Anscombe Bioethics Centre, and co-sponsored by Blackfriars Hall, University of Oxford.

Winners of the Foyle Young Poets of the Year Award 2014 were announced on 2 October, National Poetry Day, at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London. The guest of honour was children’s author Julia Donaldson. All 100 winning poets attended the prize-giving ceremony. The top fifteen Foyle Young Poets of the Year will also […]

As details of the Trojan Horse inquiry make their way into the mainstream press, and as it becomes apparent that there really was something very troubling going on in certain state-funded schools in Birmingham, it is to be expected that questions be asked about the place of religion in schools. But while the ‘hardline and […]