New figures from Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, confirm the growing demographic crisis facing Europe. Last year, deaths across the EU outnumbered births by almost 1.2m, and this is only going to get worse. Births have not outnumbered deaths since 2012. This is a consequence of fertility rates being well below replacement...
Divorce will affect children for the rest of their lives, well into adulthood, but people don’t want to hear this because it makes them feel bad about their decisions, says Spectator columnist, writer and broadcaster, Bridget Phetasy. A piece she wrote a few months ago called “How divorce never ends”, is based on her personal...
The assisted suicide bill regrettably passed its second reading in the UK House of Commons last week, with 330 MPs voting in favour and 275 against. Among Labour MPs, 58pc supported the bill, as did 60pc of Reform Party representatives, while only 19pc of Conservative MPs backed it. On the plus side, more Labour MPs...
On Friday, the UK House of Commons will vote on a bill by a Labour MP to introduce assisted suicide in England and Wales. Some interesting opposition to it has emerged. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said a whip would not apply and Labour party members could “vote their conscience”, but some important members of...
Persecution of Christians around the world has increased further over the past two years from already high levels, according to a new report from Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), published this week in Ireland for the annual ‘Week of Witness’. The problem has worsened not only in individual countries but across continents and...
A major new study shows that unmarried individuals are much more likely to experience depression than those who are married. The study looks at seven different countries, including Ireland. Unmarried people include those who are single, divorced, separated, or widowed. Specifically, the analysis found being unmarried is associated with an overall 86pc higher risk of...
In this week’s US election, citizens voted not only in the presidential and two congressional elections but also in numerous referendums, including several on pro-life issues. In three states, attempts to make abortion laws more liberal were rejected, while seven states passed pro-choice ballot measures. The most significant pro-life victory occurred in Florida, where an...
Sweden is moving to ban marriage between close cousins. Such bans were once common, but oddly enough some have been rescinded as laws around marriage have been liberalised. However, sometimes we discover that certain prohibitions were introduced for good reasons. Traditionally in the West, close cousin marriage has been banned for genetic reasons, but historically...
A recent study by two pro-choice academics provides interesting insights into the GPs who offer abortion services in Ireland. Those GPs, while fully in favour of abortion, nonetheless have reservations about some of what they are seeing, and in particular about women who have had multiple abortions in a relatively short time. Very revealingly, when...
A recent survey has found that, for the first time, atheists in the UK outnumber those who believe in God. Or do they? Because an awful lot depends on exactly what people are asked. The “Explaining Atheism” project is a global research initiative led by Queen’s University Belfast and recently released interim findings appearing to...
