Published on
24 October 2020
Recent comments made by Pope Francis about same-sex unions have raised quite a stir. In a new documentary ‘Francesco’, about the present Pontiff’s life, Pope Francis says, ‘homosexual people have a right to be in a family. They’re children of God and have a right to a family. Nobody should be thrown out or be […]
Published on
14 February 2020
Posted in British Politics, Christianity, Civil Liberties, Human Rights, World Affairs
Western military intervention in the Middle East, however well-intentioned its perpetrators may have been – or wished to be seen as – has often caused more problems than it has solved. The Gulf Wars had a disastrously destabilising effect on Iraq and the surrounding regions, and they created the conditions for radical Islamic extremism to […]
Published on
28 August 2015
‘Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves’ – William Pitt the Younger Earlier in 2015 Baroness Warsi declared that Britain is fighting an ‘ever-losing battle’ against violent extremists and The Guardian reported that ‘more people were being radicalized in their […]
Published on
7 August 2015
Posted in Civil Liberties, Conscience, Culture, Human Rights, Marriage & Family
At Amnesty International’s International Conference Meeting (ICM) in Dublin this month delegates will debate the proposition that there is a human right to engage in prostitution, or “sex work”. Amnesty International has previously called for decriminalisation of prostitution and has asserted that sex workers face various forms of discrimination from the State and stigmatisation by society […]
Published on
19 June 2015
Posted in Abortion, Civil Liberties, Culture, Education, Human Rights, IVF
For the most part having children is not about enhancing choice. It is a practical reality that calls for much forgoing of what parents might want to do – whether listening to music, going to the theatre, having a drink and a chat with friends, or just sleeping. As a result a premium has come […]
Published on
24 July 2014
As a right to die becomes the subject of yet another House of Lords debate it may be worth revisiting a matter upon which this blog has commented before here and here. The writer has recently seen a film about Virginia Woolf, and it may be of value to shape the discussion with reference to […]
Published on
24 March 2014
We have argued previously on this blog against Physician-Assisted Suicide (PAS) (here and here). In both instances we sought to make a rational case against based on the premise that helping anyone to end his or her life is contrary to the value of liberty: with destruction of an individual’s life goes destruction of the […]
Published on
11 March 2014
Liberty is a premise upon which physician-assisted suicide is routinely advanced. Some of those suffering from serious and incurable illness or distress seek to argue the case that their suffering is a bondage from which only death can free them. Such suffering is, of course, naturally subjective in the sense that what one person might […]