Thomas More Institute

Category Archives: Public Policy

Published on
17 June 2017

Election Reflection II: Labour’s Journey Back to the Future

Posted in British Politics, Political Economy, Public Policy

This is the second in a 3-part series of reflections on the 2017 UK General Election. The 2017 General Election first and foremost marked a return to two-party politics. Though neither party secured a parliamentary majority, the Conservatives and Labour simultaneously received their highest vote shares since 1983 and 1997 respectively. At the same time, the Scottish National […]

Published on
16 June 2017

Election Reflection I: The Conservatives and the Reification of Rhetoric

Posted in Big Society, British Politics, Public Policy, Virtue

This is the first in a 3-part series of reflections on the 2017 UK General Election. Only eleven months ago, Theresa May delivered a much-lauded opening address just outside 10 Downing Street, in which she extolled the virtues of ‘One Nation’ conservatism. Whilst a passing mention was made of her predecessor, her firm pledge to ‘fight against […]

Published on
8 November 2016

Islam: Friend or Foe?

Posted in Ethics in the Media, Europe, Freedom, Human Rights, Islam, Middle East, Public Policy, United States of America, World Affairs

2016 was in many respects an atypical year. In the political arena, two events confounded and unnerved the grandees of establishment media: Brexit, and, in the U.S.A., the Republican nomination for the US presidential election. Donald Trump made headlines with his brash style, irascible temperament and often controversial statements – among which his denouncing of […]

Published on
16 August 2016

The EU Referendum: A Call for Genuine Subsidiarity?

Posted in British Politics, Europe, Public Policy, World Affairs

The people of the UK as a whole decided on 23 June to leave the European Union. Brexit won the referendum with 51%+ of the vote, the result was backed by more than 17 million citizens. Turnout was the highest seen since 1992, and the outcome determined by the will of large swathes of the […]

Published on
18 April 2016

Panama Papers and Political Morality

Posted in British Politics, Conscience, Europe, Legal Affairs, Morality in Public, Public Policy, Social Commentary, Virtue, World Affairs

In recent weeks, newspapers and media at large have been speaking about the biggest leak in contemporary history. The Panama Papers amount to 2.6 terabytes of information or 11.5 million documents on offshore tax havens. The records constitute the internal database of Mossack Fonseca, a Panama-based law firm, and were published by the International Consortium […]

Published on
7 May 2014

‘To Do God, or not to Do God’, and UKIP’s Fortunes

Posted in Big Society, British Politics, Culture, Public Policy, Religion

Nigel Farage’s reputation is proving, so The Huffington Post has observed, to have the non-stick qualities of Teflon. However xenophobic, eccentric or clown-like members of his party show themselves to be, UKIP are still set to win big in the forthcoming European elections. In policy terms it is, however, very hard to account for the […]

Published on
3 March 2014

Religious Slaughter and the Rights of Chickens in Denmark

Posted in Civil Liberties, Conscience, Culture, Ethics in the Media, Human Rights, Liberty, Moral Philosophy, Morality in Public, Public Policy, Religion

To the delight of secularists and ‘animal rights’ activists the Danish parliament last week passed a law banning Kosher and Halal methods of slaughter on the grounds that these violate the rights of animals. Dan Jørgensen, the Danish minister for Food, Agriculture and Fisheries told Denmark’s TV2 that ‘animal rights come before religion’. Unsurprisingly, Jewish […]