The Truth About 9/11 Conspiracy Theories *

Jan 31st, 2007 | Filed by

There’s the ‘official conspiracy theory’ and then there’s the ‘truth movement.’… Read the rest



Is Nick Cohen Right About the Left? Critics Reply *

Jan 31st, 2007 | Filed by

‘There is another left,’ Sunder Katwala says.… Read the rest



A Poem *

Jan 31st, 2007 | Filed by

The sympathy and support jihadists attract is traceable to failures on which we can act.… Read the rest



Critics Ignoring Most of Nick Cohen’s Book *

Jan 31st, 2007 | Filed by

The story of the Stop the War coalition fills just half of one chapter in a 13-chapter book. … Read the rest



Steven Pinker on the Mystery of Consciousness *

Jan 31st, 2007 | Filed by

Some of our deepest convictions about what it means to be human have been shaken.… Read the rest



Global Warming, Intelligent Design and the Re-Ascendancy of the Pro-Scientific Political Left

Jan 31st, 2007 | By Steven Gimbel

In his State of the Union address, President Bush said something that was sadly remarkable:

America is on the verge of technological breakthroughs that will enable us to live our lives less dependent on oil. These technologies will help us become better stewards of the environment – and they will help us to confront the serious challenge of global climate change.

In a major speech, the President of the United States openly acknowledged global warming, the fact that human activity is having an effect, and that we face a challenge in dealing with it. This should not be news, but that this President has done so, in light of his previous tap dancing around the scientific consensus around the issue, … Read the rest



Secular Hospitals Recommended *

Jan 30th, 2007 | Filed by

Panel recommends that France adopt a charter to keep religious traditions out of hospitals.… Read the rest



Norm Geras on Having a Tree in Your Eye *

Jan 30th, 2007 | Filed by

Who is giving out blanket condemnations of whom?… Read the rest



Mark Vernon on Christianity and Science *

Jan 30th, 2007 | Filed by

‘Essentially theological ideas’ underpin science, e.g. that the universe is coherent. … Read the rest



A Visit to the Scary People *

Jan 30th, 2007 | Filed by

The scary people are scary.… Read the rest



Peter Singer Says Activists Have Had an Impact *

Jan 30th, 2007 | Filed by

McDonald’s asked questions, Smithfield slightly improved conditions for its sows.… Read the rest



Nostalgia for mud

Jan 29th, 2007 5:22 pm | By

Bunting is at the old stand again.

But it is [A C Grayling’s] claim of the west’s steady march of progress to the happy lands of a universal ideal of rationality and freedom that strikes so hollow. The more vehemently one hears liberal progressives claim progress, the more one wonders who they are trying to convince. Increasingly, the stridency with which the non-religious attack the religious belies their own profound insecurity – that the progress they like to attribute to western or enlightenment values is a much-compromised property. It is challenged by almost everything we see around us: climate change, rising levels of mental ill-health, growing economic inequality fuelled by debt and hyper-consumerism. As Oliver James’s new book, Affluenza,

Read the rest


RCC the Representative of Liberty as Such *

Jan 29th, 2007 | Filed by

William Rees-Mogg notes how English Mill seems, how un-English Kant was.… Read the rest



Blair Rules Out Exemption for Catholics *

Jan 29th, 2007 | Filed by

Kelly cites both sides’ ‘passionately held views, expressed with real conviction.’… Read the rest



Grayling Replies to Bunting *

Jan 29th, 2007 | Filed by

If this were 1950s Ireland, Bunting might not be writing anything.… Read the rest



Poll Shows Some Interesting Views *

Jan 29th, 2007 | Filed by

74% of young Muslims think women should wear the hijab. 31% think apostates should be killed.… Read the rest



Lawrence Summers Notes That Science Matters *

Jan 29th, 2007 | Filed by

There is an increasing move away from respecting the scientific method in US schools.… Read the rest



Persecution of Baha’is of Iran *

Jan 29th, 2007 | Filed by

Report finds more persecution since election of Ahmadinejad and resurgence of other conservatives.… Read the rest



President Jammeh of Gambia Undertakes Cures *

Jan 29th, 2007 | Filed by

‘I can treat asthma and HIV/Aids and the cure is a day’s treatment.’… Read the rest



After Village Gang-rape, Mukhtar Fought Back *

Jan 28th, 2007 | Filed by

Such was her sense of outrage and injustice that she refused to commit suicide.… Read the rest