Published on
1 October 2013
With publication of a series of YouGov polls the State’s funding of religious education is once again in the news. Secularists have renewed their assault on all things religious, and public and religious leaders have responded saying that State-backed faith schools are a ‘precious right’ and that it is wrong to drag children into an […]
Published on
10 July 2013
Posted in British Politics, Education, Moral Philosophy, Morality in Public, Virtue
As Labour’s poll ratings plummet following the Unite scandal we have a suitable occasion to ask how some integrity may be injected back into politics. After David Cameron’s evisceration of his own party’s grass-roots there is perhaps an element of balance in watching poor Ed do much the same to Labour’s political base though none […]
Published on
19 December 2012
In a three-part lecture series at St Peter’s College, Oxford, Mark Thompson, former Director-General of the BBC has addressed public understanding of, and engagement with, political and other public issues. These lectures naturally touched on questions of political and journalistic integrity, public authority and recent developments in media technology. 1) Is Plato winning the argument? […]
Published on
12 December 2012
Posted in Conscience, Culture, Education, Marriage & Family
At present it looks extremely likely that legislation extending the possibility of legal marriage to same-sex couples will be passed in the New Year, and that in spite of strong opposition from voters, churches and even some homosexual people, too. We have blogged before about ‘gay marriage’ here, here, here and here. One aspect of […]
Published on
5 November 2012
Posted in Conscience, Culture, Education, Marriage & Family, Moral Philosophy
School nurses have given [contraceptive] implants or jabs to girls aged between 13 and 16 more than 900 times in the past two years, a survey by The Daily Telegraph has found… A further 7,400 girls aged 15 and under have been given contraceptive injections or implants at family planning clinics… Under the patient confidentiality […]
Published on
25 October 2012
Posted in Culture, Education, Music & Art
Some readers may have had the pleasure of viewing this picture which has been doing the rounds on social media. Like many of my musician friends I ‘shared’ it, and that promptly started a discussion with two others, not musicians themselves but both well-attuned to current social mores, as to whether there was anything wrong […]
Published on
31 May 2012
Posted in Culture, Education, Social Commentary
There was a famous sketch performed long ago in an episode of the Frost Report where three men standing alongside one other represented the three then generally accepted socio-economic classes within society. Each was a caricature based upon traits commonly taken to have been present in individuals of that particular class. It is most likely […]
Published on
16 May 2012
Posted in Education, Philosophy
The New College of Humanities is a recently established academic institution based in London. It is the project of well-known academics such as A.C. Grayling and Richard Dawkins. Students, alongside their chosen degree, will be required to study a few core modules emulating the liberal arts method of many North American colleges. A number of […]