Published on
9 July 2015
Over the past three months we have seen numerous reports on migrants crossing the Mediterranean from North Africa to Italy and moving on to the English Channel at Calais with Dover in sight – in some cases succeeding in the latter crossing, too. In virtue of the historic sequence of the two crossings, both involving […]
Published on
24 February 2015
Posted in Christianity, Culture, Human Life, Ireland, Moral Philosophy, Social Commentary, Virtue
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, […]
Published on
15 November 2014
Posted in Abortion, British Politics, Human Life, Human Rights, Northern Ireland
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 […]
Published on
8 November 2014
Posted in Assisted Suicide, British Politics, Human Life, Human Rights
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 […]
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 […]
Published on
20 January 2014
Posted in Culture, Human Life, Same-Sex Marriage, Social Commentary
The Open University has just published a fascinating report on sexuality and happiness. Unsurprisingly, couples who perform small acts of kindness for each other, such as making tea first thing in the morning, are likelier to be happy together than couples who do not. Curiously, however, it is also suggested that couples without children and […]