Published on
11 February 2011
Trying to define multiculturalism is rather like trying to pin tomato seeds down on a plate. So it was with some interest that I listened to David Cameron’s much heralded Munich speech in which he argued that ‘the doctrine of state multiculturalism’ had failed, and that Britain needs to foster a stronger sense of shared […]
Published on
3 February 2011
Posted in Abortion, Culture, Human Life, Human Rights, United States of America
Type the name of serial killer Harold Shipman into the search function on the BBC News website and you will find 587 news items. Crossing the Atlantic, and more recently, try a search for ‘Tucson shootings’ and you find 37, while a search for murdered abortionist George Tiller turns up 17 stories. Type in ‘Kermit […]
Published on
19 January 2011
Posted in Christianity, Culture, Legal Affairs, Marriage & Family, Public Policy, Same-Sex Marriage
We commented here recently on the case of Christian hoteliers sued for refusing to allow a homosexual couple to share a room at their hotel in Cornwall. A Judge yesterday ruled against them, arguing that their refusal constitutes an act of ‘direct discrimination’ on grounds of sexual orientation. Similar claims of persecution against Christians have […]
Published on
11 January 2011
Posted in British Politics, Culture, Education, Marriage & Family, Public Policy
Frank Field, the MP chosen to be the government’s so-called ‘poverty czar’, has recommended, in his much-anticipated report on poverty and life chances, that schools should offer parenting GCSEs in an attempt to curb widespread family breakdown in the UK. Readers may feel that this is a faintly ridiculous suggestion, or perhaps a step too […]
Published on
10 November 2010
Posted in Civil Liberties, Culture, Liberty
What connects the Puritans and Professor David Nutt, the former government advisor who recently called for a radical rethink of state policy on drugs? Not all that much, you might think, but read on. Twenty-first century folk love new things. We have the ‘new right’, New Labour, the ‘new atheists’, and ‘the new politics’. Yet […]
Published on
27 October 2010
Posted in British Politics, Culture
Alongside the stories of swingeing cuts to the budgets of various departments, a number of news sources have picked up on a story about royal finances. For the first time since 1740, a proportion of the revenue generated by the Crown Estate will be given to the reigning monarch, as Chancellor George Osborne announced his […]
Published on
3 September 2010
Posted in Culture, Ethics in the Media
With the advent of a Conservative-Liberal coalition heralding the end of the New Labour era, it was only a matter of time before the political memoirs appeared, stimulating a media feeding frenzy over the scraps thrown down from the tables of the politicians. Lord Mandelson was the first to step up with his book The […]
Published on
27 January 2010
Posted in Culture, Legal Affairs, Liberty, Social Commentary
Both Labour and the Conservatives seem to be falling over themselves in trying to stop excessive drinking. No one who has strolled down the local high street in any British city on a Saturday night will have failed to notice the often high levels of intoxication of local inhabitants. This culture of ‘binge drinking’ might […]