In a surprising development, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has over-ruled objections from China, and has backed a decision to again investigate the possibility that Covid-19 originated in a leak from the Wuhan virology laboratory. The initial finding of a joint investigation by WHO and the Chinese research team was criticised as being inadequate and […]
It is very important that people do not misunderstand what the headline above means, so let’s be absolutely clear. First, this is a report, albeit one from NBC news, which means that it should be taken seriously. But it is also not 100% fact, or anything like that. Second, their sources are good, but their […]
In case you’re wondering, the fourth deadly sin in the classical lists of seven sins is envy. Sociologist Anne Hendershott has written a whole book about it—The Politics of Envy—and the editors of the Spring 2021 issue of The Human Life Review excerpted part of a chapter that shows how social media sites such as Facebook and […]
There can be no doubt that losing your mother at the age of eleven is hard enough, without having to suffer through a million cameras at her funeral, every single one of them watching you for signs of grief and emotion. There can be no doubt that such an experience, coupled with learning more, as […]
A prominent medical journal has published an article arguing that parents should not have “veto power” in decisions around their children wanting to embark on medical treatment to change gender. Writing in the Journal of Medical Ethics last month, bioethics professor Maura Priest (who is a philosopher and not a medical doctor) said that in […]
Despite all the recent troubles with Russia or Belarus, the EU diplomats know well that, as The Economist put it not so long ago, the Taiwan Strait is geopolitically the most challenging part of the world. Any conflict in this area could draw major nuclear power into a war, over an island, which is not […]
Some this week were attempting to perhaps distract attention from what is currently taking place in South Africa with reminders that in July 1984 Dunnes Stores workers in Henry Street, Dublin began a three year long strike in opposition to the stocking of food produce from South Africa. It was indeed a brave stance to […]
Sixteen European political parties, including some who are in government, have launched what they call a ‘Manifesto for Freedom” saying the EU is “becoming a tool of radical forces” who aim to build a “European superstate” to cancel “European traditions” and ‘transform moral principles’. The context of the document is the recent attempt by the […]
I started the [Twitter] account because I was in Australia. I thought it was safe here. I thought they wouldn’t be able to trace it back to me. In March 2020 the local police department contacted my parents and asked my parents to come to the police station and issued an official warning and they […]
Is the Communist one party state in Cuba on the verge of collapse? The weekend has seen unprecedented protests across many cities including the capital Havana. It comes after a series of hunger strikes and other events largely ignored by the world media, though covered on this platform. Cubans, incensed by food shortages, lack of […]
Wembley woes.
Business Insider recently reminded us of Coca-Cola product placement saga from the period after the Second World War mythologizing a plucky Soviet general, designed to appeal to both conservatives and the far-left. The tale is an interesting illustration of the appeal of storytelling using iconic and archetypal characters for propaganda purposes – or, in his […]