Published on
18 November 2011
Posted in British Politics, Europe, Marriage & Family, Public Policy, Social Commentary
Last week Channel Four television programmed a documentary entitled Go Greek For A Week. Three distinct individuals were shown living as their counterparts in Greece had been doing according to employment and circumstance. The programme focused on the financial generosity of the Greek State, and also on the ease with which taxation might be evaded. […]
Published on
27 October 2011
Posted in British Politics, Europe, Political Economy, World Affairs
The parliamentary debate which occurred on Monday, upon a non-binding motion proposing that a referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU be held, has been widely portrayed as a debate internal to the Conservative party, with its leadership and frontbench squaring up to those on the backbenches. More specifically, the issue has been portrayed […]
Published on
16 September 2011
Posted in Ethics in Business, Europe, World Affairs
From a guest blogger: Since its inception one of the principle reasons regularly served up for ever more integration in the European Union (as now is) has been, in the wake of two World Wars, to prevent armed conflict by making war ever more unattractive and impossible to conceive. As integration progressed, it was decided […]
Published on
10 June 2011
Posted in Culture, Europe, Marriage & Family, Moral Philosophy, Public Policy, Social Commentary, Virtue, World Affairs
‘We live in an age of growing self-indulgence, of hardening materialism and of falling moral standards… When we see around us the havoc which has been wrought, above all among the children, by the breakup of homes, we can have no doubt that divorce and separation are responsible for some of the darkest evils in […]
Published on
19 April 2011
Posted in Europe, Ireland, Moral Philosophy, Political Economy, Virtue, World Affairs
Dominique Strauss-Kahn, head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), has this last weekend called for a better plan to be drawn up to deal with government debts in Europe, and has criticised responses to individual crises so far which threaten to undermine investor confidence there. As Britain prepares for a referendum on its voting system […]
Published on
1 April 2011
Posted in Europe, Ireland, Political Economy, Public Policy, World Affairs
From a guest blogger: For anybody who follows Irish politics, the recent general election, in the wake of Ireland’s financial crisis, represents a remarkable change in the Irish political landscape, but is also instructive about the underlying dynamics of Ireland’s relationship with the European union (EU). The centre-right party that has long dominated Irish politics […]
Published on
28 March 2011
Posted in Christianity, Conscience, Education, Europe, Human Rights, Legal Affairs, Liberty, Moral Philosophy, Philosophy, Religion, Social Commentary
It was with surprise that many people heard last week of the decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), by a majority of 15-2, to overturn its own much-criticised decision in 2009 to forbid the display of crucifixes in Italian schoolrooms. Perhaps it would be kinder not to point out to the hapless […]
Published on
10 March 2011
Posted in British Politics, Christianity, Civil Liberties, Conscience, Culture, Europe, Islam, Liberty, Public Policy, Religion
Guidelines have now been published for the implementation of France’s much-publicised ban on the wearing of full face-coverings in public places, which will come into force next month. The Guardian reports that – with more than a slight reminder of Communist Vietnam – women caught wearing the burka will be ‘given a citizenship class to […]