Is there really a scientific consensus about wearing masks in the Covid-19 pandemic? How much of a help are masks in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic? Absolutely essential, it seems, to New Yorkers. A woman who failed to sport a mask sparked hysteria in a Staten Island supermarket. Other shoppers started shrieking at the modern leper to […]
Utilitarianism medical ethics has come under heavy fire in recent months. Many commentators have, for example, criticised utilitarian ICU rationing frameworks that discriminate against older people and people with disabilities. Others have condemned the veiled introduction of herd immunity strategies that involve allowing coronavirus to spread through the community to create population-level resistance to COVID-19. These […]
On Saturday, May 30, American astronauts flew into orbit on an American-made space vehicle for the first time since 2011. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket carried Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken, both veterans of the old Space Shuttle program, inside the Dragon capsule, and once the capsule separated safely, the first stage returned automatically to earth […]
Technology has been invaluable to keep us all connected during the Covid-19 pandemic, but could it also be separating us from those we love most? Smartphones keep us informed and provide a constant stream of news and entertainment. I gifted my husband some wireless headphones because he loves to listen to podcasts. With them, he […]
A bid by the Democratic Unionist Party in the north to outlaw abortions on the grounds of disability has gained support and put pressure on Sinn Féin to support a change in the law to protect some people with disabilities. Abortion legislation, imposed on the region by the British Parliament in Westminster has remained enormously controversial ever since […]
The tiny but fiercely distinctive and geo-politically strategic nation of Armenia is facing a demographic crisis. Its population is about 2.9 million, its fertility rate is about 1.6, far below replacement level, and the population is slowly shrinking. The government is alarmed and launched some initiatives in March to reverse the trend — including testing the […]
About a hundred babies born to surrogate mothers in Ukraine are separated from the parents who commissioned them. The parents can’t visit and the babies can’t leave. In the meantime, the children are being cared for by their surrogate mothers or the agency which recruited them. But because of the coronavirus pandemic, it has been […]
Leo Varadkar was pictured having a picnic with friends in Phoenix Park with his shirt off last weekend. Did his actions send a signal to people that the lockdown was effectively over? VOTE in our Poll below and leave us your comments on our social pages and on our website
This week an article attacked Irish doctors who offer medical assistance to women who have taken abortion pills and then changed their minds before the effects were final. The article contains a number of claims that need to be challenged. A chemical abortion consists of two separate pills: the first, called mifepristone, blocks the effects of progesterone, […]
Last weekend’s interview with Mary Lou McDonald by Hugh O’Connell attracted a lot of attention because McDonald had told him that she might well have joined the IRA. Of course she did not, choosing instead to join Fianna Fáil while in college, and only joining Sinn Féin in 2002. She was elected to the European […]
Should schools re-open fully in September even if there has been no vaccine or cure for Coronavirus found? VOTE in our Poll below and leave us your comments on our social pages and on our website
Moore and Gibbs know which emotional buttons to press as they slyly husband support for their attack on the renewable energy industry. The new Michael Moore film ‘Planet of the Humans’ inadvertently reveals a silver lining to the dark coronavirus cloud, at least in the eyes of the filmmakers. Executive producer Michael Moore and […]