If I had to name the two things which I think are the issues I think of as most important they would be abortion and climate change. That might seem like a slightly odd combination but I think that they are two biggest issues facing our species. Abortion kills more than 46 million unborn humans every year and thousands of women. That's about one in ( Read more... )

A week or so ago I heard a scientist on the radio talking about scepticism about climate change. I'm not sure what the correct term is to use to describe people who don't think that man-made emissions are causing changes in the climate. "Climate change deniers" has connotations to to holocaust deniers and is therefore seen as incendiary and ( Read more... )

People often talk about criminals' and defendants' rights and victims rights as being in opposition. Actually, I think that are a lot of things which could make things better for both victims and defendants or make things better for one without being to the detriment of the other ( Read more... )

Last night I went to see the Gilbert and Sullivan production of HMS Pinafore. It was very good and I smiled particularly at the song For he is an Englishman because we've joked that when one of our friends becomes a British citizen we should all stand outside the office where it gets finalised and break into a rousing chorus of the song (possibly ( Read more... )

I often realise that I'm marching to the beat of a drum no-one else can hear, or at least doesn't like the sound of. One of these moments was when listening to commentary on Conservative Party plans to give transferable tax allowances to married (and I think civilly partnered) couplesLots of people have referred to it as bribing people to get ( Read more... )

Here it is: I'm not so convinced that university tuition fees are a bad thing. There, I said it. Let me clarify a bit ( Read more... )

Alec and I went to visit my parents this weekend. We went by train. I got the bus to the station as I had too much luggage and Alec cycled as he had some places to go on the way. As the station cycle park was, as always, completely full when Alec got there on Friday morning, he parked his bicycle against the fence on the pavement and locked it to ( Read more... )

I'm a liberal, right ( Read more... )

The blogosphere is erupting with criticism and praise for the NHS, which divides along national lines. One thing you have to understand is that the NHS is one of the most sacred things to British identity. We love whingeing about it but we love it and believe it to be better than the alternatives. I'm not sure what a US equivalent would be, maybe ( Read more... )

This morning began with me yelling at the radio and feeling violent urges toward a government minister. The reason was Phil Woolas* discussing plans to introduce a points system to obtaining British citizenship. He talked about how people would gain points by having needed skills and qualifications, by speaking English and by doing slightly ( Read more... )