There is a marriage gap in US politics. Married women are more likely to vote Republican and single women are more likely to vote Democrat. Eleanor Clift, a Democrat supporter, draws attention to this fact in an article in The Daily Beast, but ironically in a manner which shows life has gone dramatically backwards for...
Here is the key question concerning the children’s rights referendum; if passed will it make it too easy for the State to decide what is in a child’s ‘best interests’ and thereby allow the State to override parents in wide-ranging circumstances? A seminar in Trinity College Dublin last night considered this very thing. The consensus...
We’re accustomed to hearing Sweden is Nirvana for women, especially working women. In part this is because it has heavily subsidised, universal day-care. However, new data shows that Swedish mothers are more likely than their counterparts in other developed countries to claim disability benefits. So things are not as rosy for Swedish women as they...
New research shows that the vast majority of teenagers watch porn, especially boys, and children as young as 11 are addicted to it. Writing in The Daily Telegraph today Jemima Lewis argues that there is no way to shield your children from porn. She’s only half-right in my view. Certainly porn is so omnipresent and...
US Vice-President Joe Biden (pictured) is another of those Catholic politicians who likes to say, ‘I’m pro-life, but’. What he means is, ‘I’m pro-life but I wouldn’t dream of imposing my views on anyone who disagrees with me’. However, when it comes to values he really holds dear, the Veep takes a different approach entirely....
A court in Northern Ireland has ruled in favour of unmarried heterosexual couples and same-sex couples being able to adopt children. I was asked by the Breakfast Show on Newstalk about the ruling. Labour TD, Anne Ferris was also on the show. I explained that I believe there are certain circumstances in which a same-sex couple...
The number of people in Western countries, including Ireland, who say they belong to no religion is on the increase. Census 2011 showed that almost six percent of Irish people say they belong to no religion, while a new poll in the US puts the figure at one in five. But can Richard Dawkins (pictured)...
New figures from the CSO show that one household type, and one only, has suffered an overall loss in gross income in the years between 2005 and 2010, and that was households consisting of mothers and fathers with one to three children. Every other household type saw a rise in gross income, despite the recession....
One of the best philosophers working in Canada today is Margaret Somerville. She has devoted a lot of her energies to examining the ethics of assisted human reproduction and as a natural extension of this has been examining the issue of same-sex marriage, which she opposes. Why does it make sense to extend your ethical...
Last Friday, Professor John Haldane, during his talk to the Iona Institute, stated that sexual relations in modern societies are now “governed by two principles; the principle of sexual attraction and the principle of sentiment”. He said: “The argument that has evolved from that is very simple. It’s just this: that sexual attraction and love...
