Published on
25 November 2011
Posted in Culture, Ethics in the Media, Moral Philosophy, Social Commentary, Virtue
From a Guest Blogger: Margaret Thatcher once told the American Bar Association not to give terrorists the ‘oxygen of publicity’. Should we, perhaps, follow her advice and refrain from commenting on Benetton’s latest PR stunt turned advertising campaign? If we ignore it, will it not go away? There is good reason to think otherwise, for […]
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
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
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
30 March 2011
Posted in Big Society, British Politics, Culture, Human Rights, Moral Philosophy, Public Policy, Virtue
We reported here recently on the case of Bed & Breakfast owners sued by a same-sex couple for refusing to allow them to share a double-bed at their Cornish hotel. It now emerges that the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), who funded the claim, are investigating gay hotels for possible unlawful discrimination against heterosexuals. […]
Published on
11 March 2011
To the delight of many of his foes, and no doubt to the chagrin of many who voted him, Barack Obama has announced the resumption of Bush-era Military Commissions for trying detainees held at Guantánamo Bay. Long after the deadline passed for the President to deliver on his pledge to close Guantánamo within a year […]
Published on
15 February 2011
Posted in Ireland, Political Economy, Recommended Links, Virtue
Anthony Daniels spoke recently on the loss of virtue and the financial crisis at the Iona Institute in Ireland, arguing that ‘the current crisis in Ireland, and not just in Ireland, should give rise not just to a search for better policy in the future, though it should certainly do that, but also to soul-searching […]