As Shannon noted a few days ago, the upcoming Chinese census may spur the Communist Party there to further relax its family planning laws or even to abolish them altogether. This is to be welcomed from a human rights point of view, and is perhaps to be expected from a demographic point of view. The previous […]
Well, this will cause a ruckus: #BREAKING: QANTAS CEO confirms that proof that you've been vaccinated for COVID-19 will be compulsory for international air travel onboard his aircraft. #9ACA pic.twitter.com/dhk3Hsnxn9 — A Current Affair (@ACurrentAffair9) November 23, 2020 QANTAS is just one airline, of course, and there’s no guarantee that others will follow – but […]
An expert on women’s issues has rung alarm bells about the potential for eugenics in China’s latest “five-year plan”. Columbia professor Leta Hong Fincher told a panel of China watchers at a virtual conference by the Center for International and Strategic Studies last week. “What caught my eye was that they actually use specific language saying that […]
682 British Children have been investigated and referred to a UK Government counter-terrorism programme over alleged “far right” activity, according to Sky News: Home Office figures show a dramatic rise in the number of under-18s referred to the government’s counter-terrorism programme Channel over concerns about their possible involvement with the far-right. A total of 682 […]
A Supreme Court judge in British Columbia stopped doctors from performing a “gender-affirming” double mastectomy on a 17-year-old Vancouver girl. The girl’s mother had appealed to the court for an injunction, which Justice Shelley C. Fitzpatrick granted for three weeks. The teenager began hormone treatment in July as part of her transition and was scheduled […]
Autonomy is the fundamental principle of contemporary bioethics – or most of it. In moral dilemmas, the path leading to greater autonomy is normally the right one. But are there exceptions? In a fascinating article in the Journal of Medical Ethics, Laura Williamson, of Augusta University, in Georgia, argues that substance abuse is a disorder for […]
The good news is indicated by the findings of research which analysed immune memory in those who had recovered from Covid-19, and found that, eight months after infection, most people still had enough immune cells to fight off the virus and prevent another illness. The researchers reported a powerful, long-lasting response, and, while the findings […]
Well, look, whatever, eh, melts her butter, I suppose: British model Lottie Moss has revealed that she is pansexual. During an Instagram Q&A on Monday, Moss — who is the younger sister of supermodel Kate Moss — responded to a follower asking if she would prefer to date a woman. “I’m pansexual so I don’t […]
Lobby groups for Canadians with disabilities are working hard to defeat a bill broadening the scope of euthanasia legislation. Under the current legislation, although some people with chronic illness want “medical aid in dying” (MAiD), they may not be eligible because their death is not “reasonably foreseeable”, in the words of the legislation. A new […]
Written by John William O’ Sullivan If you are familiar with political discussion in 2020 then you’ve probably heard the phrase the ‘Great Reset’. The Great Reset is a strange notion. If you put the term into Google, you will see New York Times articles denouncing it as a conspiracy theory next to Time articles […]
Dr Mike Fitzpatrick sympathises with the effects of the Covid pandemic lockdown on the elderly, but warns against older people disregarding the restrictions, not least because robustly proclaiming that the interests of young people should not be sacrificed to those who have lived much longer ‘gives succour to those who are inclined to the view […]
Even in a covid prioritizing world, there is something strange and no doubt significant about the low level reaction to the beheading of a schoolteacher on a Paris street last month. The equally tepid response to the equally barbarous killing of three people, in no way associated with the provocation, in a Nice church over a […]