“Modernising” is being respected and catered for nowadays in every aspect and institution of British life. All those old discriminatory practices by stuffy old institutions are being done away. Women priests have abounded and proliferated mightily since that enlightened vote in Synod approved them in 1992. And, in his last speech as Archbishop of Canterbury, [...]
“Most religious people in Britain are in favour of assisted suicide,” reports the BBC. This information is supplied by an organisation called the Westminster Faith Debates which claims to have discovered that 82% of religious people – except Baptists, Muslims and Hindus – think that people “have the right to choose when to die” and [...]
When I hear the word “culture” I reach for the off-switch. In her first speech as Culture Minister, Maria Miller has pledged to do all in her power to wring money out of the treasury to support “the arts.” The very title Culture Minister makes me feel queasy, with its connotations of Commissariats for the [...]
Many were shocked the other day when they read some words from the lesbian journalist Masha Gessen: “It’s a no-brainer that homosexual activists should have the right to marry, but I think equally that it’s a no-brainer that the institution of marriage should not exist. Fighting for gay marriage generally involves lying about what we [...]
Why do those who are well-rewarded for being the principal interviewers on the BBC give so many of their studio guests such an easy time? I know the criticism usually goes the other way and the likes of John Humphrys, James Naughtie and Carolyn Quinn are accused of consistent rudeness for not letting their interviewees [...]
BISHOP’S GOT TALENT! – this is my new venture into presenting hit shows for the Saturday evening gormless hour on BBC I. I’m hoping that Tim Ellis, Bishop of Grantham, will compete in the stand-up comedy section. Already he has done some very funny gigs – such as when he was one of the first ever [...]
The BBC should allow the song Ding Dong the Witch is Dead to be played in its regular charts show if enough people vote to have it featured. This is a matter of freedom of speech, and freedom of speech is indivisible. You can’t say that people should be allowed to express only those things [...]
Margaret Thatcher’s judgement has been vindicated by the disgraceful celebrations of her death: the vile demonstrations in the streets by the spoilt and petulant underclass and the bile spoken in the mass media by people who ought to know better. Slogans such as “The Bitch is Dead” and the chant “Maggie, Maggie, Maggie; Dead, Dead, [...]
Women and children queuing for bread in Syrian towns are being mercilessly targeted by heavy air strikes. The Syrian government forces’ slaughter of their own people is pitiless and the number of casualties now approaches 80,000 dead with millions more injured and displaced. The pitiful procession of refugees into neighbouring countries threatens the stability of [...]
I hereby declare my personal academic boycott of the Teachers’ Union of Ireland. My boycott will be absolute with no limitation as to time. My word, I never thought I would see the day when I would have to cease all cultural and academic collaboration with the Irish! Why am I taking this stern stance? [...]
