Of all Latin proverbs, the relativist adage De gustibus non disputandum est just may be the most subversive. The implication is that taste is wholly subjective, with no right or wrong anywhere in sight. You like Bach, he likes Amy Winehouse, they like Eminem – who’s to say that oneRead More

The Zika virus is fuelling an international effort to limit Brazil’s fertility. Writing from a Roman Catholic perspective, Dr Gerard M Nadal here analyses Pope Francis’s recent in-flight pronouncements on the matter. Even the dimmest wit in the Society of Jesus can make his thoughts plainly understood. So it mustRead More

The less I say about the sick, pathetic joke that goes by the name of Dave’s deal with the EU, the better. Our papers are bulging with the details of this travesty, and there’s little one can add. Regular readers of this space know that I predicted something along theseRead More

Actually, this isn’t fair, it’s not just the EU. Defending any unsound proposition can make even an intelligent person sound silly. Take atheism, for example. Someone who doesn’t believe in God may be bright, within certain limits. But even an extremely intelligent man sounds idiotic when he tries to defendRead More

‘Look who’s talking’ is a colloquial way of saying that even an unimpeachable idea may be compromised by the speaker’s personality. For example, few would argue against the notion of the sanctity of human life – but even fewer would like to hear this argument put forth by a serialRead More

Last week, a campaign was launched to promote the most extreme proposals ever officially advocated by the abortion lobby: abortion up to birth, and for any reason. Headed by BPAS, the leading organisation of the UK abortion industry, the campaign also includes eight abortion lobby groups (interestingly, this number doesRead More

Oscar Wilde said that the best way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it. Unfortunately many Brits use this method for getting rid of the fascist temptation. When they find something wrong with Her Majesty’s government, they turn their thoughts not to restoring history’s greatest constitution butRead More

Even if Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko has made the claim himself, you can rely upon the truth of it. A few dozen right wing activists, spoiling for a fight, gathered outside Ukraine’s national parliament.  A company of riot police had been drawn up in front.  The super patriots launched an assault. One threwRead More

From the hype surrounding the film Fifty Shades of Grey, based on books by a female author, E. L. James, those unacquainted with its subject matter might assume that it was a romantic if slightly saucy ‘chick flick’; but the whole phenomenon highlights how the eugenics idea has risen likeRead More

In a globalised world, Britain’s disasters will rebound on everyone, and make no mistake about it: Corbyn’s elevation to Labour leadership is disastrous. To Marx the spectre haunting Europe was that of communism, but he was only partly right. Communism is only a facet of a larger entity: evil. AtRead More