Published on
12 November 2012
When Philip Schofield passed a list of alleged sexual abusers to David Cameron on camera it was clear the Prime Minister was not pleased. This was not a simple matter of the government or the Tory party facing charges of ‘honours for cash’ or of political ‘u-turns’. The possibility that senior members of the party […]
Published on
3 February 2012
From a guest blogger: A position commonly held by ‘reformers’ in various religious traditions in this country may be summarised roughly in the following lines: If the central authority of a religion is at odds with beliefs held by the majority of that its adherents, the former is duty-bound to reconsider and even to change […]
Published on
23 January 2012
Posted in Abortion, Civil Liberties, Conscience, Human Life, Human Rights, Liberty, Moral Philosophy
From a guest blogger: Not for the first time has ‘the land of the free’ been a hopelessly wrongheaded epithet with which to label the United States of America. Many developed western nations find themselves embarrassed by histories of racial subjugation and segregation and they are rightly sorry about these records. But slavery is not […]
Published on
20 January 2012
Posted in Conscience, Culture, Human Rights, Liberty, Marriage & Family, Moral Philosophy, Virtue
From a guest blogger: Some right-of-centre blogs have recently caught the eye. They concern chivalry and the unfortunate running aground of the Costa Concordia. ‘Women and children first used always to be the cry when all else was lost’, is the rough line taken by one commentator. At this point one can assume that whatever […]
Published on
20 June 2011
Posted in Christianity, Ethics in the Media, Euthanasia, Freedom, Human Life, Liberty, Moral Philosophy
From a Guest Blogger: Terry Pratchett’s recent documentary Choosing to Die is rightly controversial. When such a prolific writer as Pratchett, suffering from Alzheimer’s, makes a television programme of such emotional intensity as this one, on such a delicate topic as suicide, it is difficult to know exactly how to respond. Having watched most of […]
Published on
27 May 2011
Posted in Civil Liberties, Conscience, Freedom, Human Rights, Liberty, Virtue
From a guest blogger: ‘What shall we do to-morrow? What shall we ever do?’ – T. S. Eliot If a substance were proved to be edible, legal, and productive of no physical or mental effects beyond an extremely pleasurable but incapacitating intoxication, would it be reasonable to say that there were any moral problems in […]
Published on
25 May 2011
Posted in British Politics, Ethics in the Media, Freedom, Liberty, Moral Philosophy, Virtue
If we were to be given £1 for every time we had heard the admonition not to ‘tell tales’ during our schooldays, there might be few people who would need to work for a living. Yet the recent furore over so-called ‘super-injunctions’ taken out by celebrities to prevent details of their private lives being revealed […]
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 […]