Self-control matters – but to what extent can it be taught?
Recently in the news, a report published by the independent think-tank Demos reminds us of the importance of the capacity for self-control (it also mentions empathy, to which most of the following remarks apply) in determining life outcomes…
Read MoreIt would be foolish of me to attempt to say anything substantive about the ethics of abortion in a blog post. But I do want to comment on Obama’s recent foray into the question, as well as on one interpretation of those comments. Addressing…
Read MoreDecimating Democracy?
Labour MP Shahid Malik has resigned as justice minister after claims about his expenses were published in the Daily Telegraph: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8051091.stmShortly before standing down, he claimed that the extensive med…
Read MoreHow much should we care about MPs’ expense claims?
Few people in the UK could have missed the furious storm about MPs’ expense claims that has dominated the news headlines for the past several weeks. A steady flow of stories has revealed not only which MPs bent the rules on exp…
Read MoreBiting into the sour apple: liberal society, abortion rights and sex selection
The Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare has recently declared that it is impossible to deny abortions to women who base their decision on the sex of the foetus. This ruling came about after a case where a woman twice aborted foetus…
Read MoreYad Vashem and the Pope
Today I just want to put a question. Pope Benedict is in Israel. When a visiting VIP is in Israel – and they don’t get more VI than the Pope – he or she is invariably taken to the Holocaust museum, Yad Vashem. Wal…
Read MorePandemic ethics: all pigs are equal
In the last few days the influenza pandemic has led to over 800 deaths, with another 240,000 expected in coming months. There has been rioting over the government response to the pandemic leading to 8 protesters and 7 police being injured. …
Read MoreThe flu paradox: is the WHO focusing too little on flu?
The WHO is in the news these days thanks to the H1N1 epidemic (alias the swine flu, or the Colbert flu), and it is doing an admirable job coordinating various national agencies in fighting a pandemic. Historically it has been at the forefro…
Read MoreIan Plimer’s climate change skepticism
Well known Australian geologist and climate skeptic Ian Plimer has recently released a new book in which he continues to push the case for climate change skepticism, entitled Heaven and Earth: Global Warming the Missing Science, and publish…
Read MorePandemic ethics: The boy who cried ‘flu’!
The headlines in the last week have been dramatic. California has declared a state of emergency. The World Health Organisation has raised its pandemic alert status to level 5 – its second highest level. The UK government is about to post le…
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