In deciding how we should respond to the murders in Paris it’s worth reflecting on what Sir Karl Popper said about the ‘paradox of tolerance’ in The Open Society and Its Enemies: “Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are… [Read More]
Guest blog from Dr Michelle Tempest Healthcare consistently polls as one of the top three concerns for voters. Between now and the general election there is going to be much debate about the entire health ecosystem – NHS, private and questions over future funding. As the population expands, beliefs diversify, yet the British remain united… [Read More]
The past few weeks have seen a number of offers to Britain and other EU states that appear uncomfortable with the current state of the union. Greece is holding an election on 25 January, and polls suggest the far-left SYRIZA party under Alexis Tsipras will be able to form a government. SYRIZA’s centrepiece policy is… [Read More]
The expansion of home ownership has surely been one of the defining social trends of the past century. Back in 1914, only 10 per cent of people owned their own home, the rest (apart from a tiny number in municipal housing) rented from a private landlord. Fast-forward to the end of the 20th century and… [Read More]
The leader of the party whose name embodies liberalism does not seem to understand what liberty is. In an article in the Daily Telegraph, Nick Clegg, argued that we will win the struggle against terrorism “not by increasing our security but by protecting our liberty”. But surely the murder of the journalists at Charlie Hebdo shows… [Read More]
Our media seems highly efficient at inventing names that imply blame for individuals experiencing social problems. For example, all too often, those without work are labelled as “benefit scroungers”. Some might argue that such labelling makes people question the validity of their benefit claims. However, it is a fact that many of those reliant on… [Read More]
Learning from history has not been mankind’s greatest talent, no matter how recent the history. The Bank of England released figures today on consumer credit which show British families have returned to 2007 levels of credit card debt. This marks the fastest growth in personal loans since just before the credit crunch according to the… [Read More]
On Sunday began five months of committed general election campaigning. The prime minister floated a counterfactual to Andrew Marr, predicated on a Conservative majority: ‘The referendum must take place before the end of 2017. If we could do that earlier, I’d be delighted. The sooner I can deliver on that, the better.’
If re-elected next year as Britain’s Prime Minister, David Cameron has said that he will attempt to renegotiate Britain’s relationship with the EU, to get a ‘new settlement for Britain in Europe’. But yesterday at a meeting of the European Council Summit, French President Francois Hollande threatened to block any proposed changes to the Lisbon… [Read More]
This week we have once again been informed that A & E departments all over the country are experiencing real problems of “over demand”, we have also seen yet another hospital: Gloucestershire’s hospital trust, reporting a major “service provision crisis” due to lack of available bed space. In two respects, problems of accessibility to A&E… [Read More]