Published on
17 February 2012
At present it is hard to feel anything other than gloom about economic news. Unemployment fugures are high and firms struggle to access much-needed finance. The current global orthodoxy for governments is that of ‘necessary cuts’. Deepening ‘doom and gloom’ the credit rating agency Moody’s has this week noted a negative outlook for the UK […]
Published on
1 February 2012
The recent debate over the bonus of the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) Chief Executive, Stephen Hester, has reached its all-but-inevitable conclusion. He has decided it would be inappropriate in the present climate to accept it. Two arguments were made against his receiving a bonus. Firstly, it was argued that in a bank effectively owned […]
Published on
26 January 2012
Posted in Big Society, British Politics, Civil Liberties, Public Policy, Social Commentary
Let us start out from a hypothetical situation, in which you, the reader, have just taken ownership of an expensive car. Immediately afterwards you go on a brief holiday to a foreign country. The writer of this article offers to look after the car whilst you are on holiday. Most readers do not know the […]
Published on
18 January 2012
Posted in Euthanasia, Human Life, Legal Affairs, Public Policy
The writer’s attention has recently been drawn to an address made by Cardinal Galen, Bishop of Munster between 1933 and 1946, on the topic of euthanasia. He was a trenchant critic of many Nazi policies, not least those towards the disabled whom the regime classified as ‘unproductive members of society’. Those resident in care homes […]
Published on
30 December 2011
Posted in British Politics, Culture, Europe, Political Economy, Public Policy
From a Guest Blogger: We have yet to see what will be the ultimate results of David Cameron’s veto earlier this month. Rhetorically he has certainly scored a hit with a majority of the British people. Even many of those opposed to Cameron’s decision have not gone so far as to declare that the Prime […]
Published on
23 December 2011
Posted in British Politics, Christianity, Public Policy, Religion
Last Friday, in Oxford, the Prime Minister gave a speech to mark the four-hundredth anniversary of the King James Bible. He began that speech with the following words: I know there are some who will question why I am giving this speech. And if they happen to know that I’m setting out my views today […]
Published on
16 December 2011
In a prior blog-post headed, Property Rights: Do They Also Include Responsibilities?, it was argued that ownership of a property not only grants rights, such as that of determining who should or should not reside in or on it, but also responsibilities. The outstanding responsibility is that towards the community or society in which the […]
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. […]