You are here

Search Results for: giles fraser

BBC Audio Britain 

Drugs and hypocrisy in the moral maze

Melanie, , ,

On BBC Radio 4’s Moral Maze last night, we discussed hypocrisy in the wake of Michael Gove’s admission that he had used cocaine on a number of occasions some two decades ago. Since many leading politicians have admitted using illegal drugs at some stage in their lives, should they all be condemned? Isn’t this to set the bar of behaviour impossibly high? Or is it only right that any person in a position of authority who has shown a contempt for the law should suffer the consequences? And is hypocrisy…

BBC Audio 

Decolonising the curriculum in the moral maze

Melanie, ,

A report commissioned by the Office for Students has recommended that universities should “decolonise” the curriculum to end the dominance of western values and beliefs, which “position anything non-European and not white as inferior.” The “decolonisers’” argument is that a “white” curriculum marginalises minority writers and alienates minority students, contributing to their low representation and attainment in higher education. Some university departments have been reassessing their reading lists accordingly. Critics warn, however, that this promotes tokenism, presenting the works of black or female thinkers as being of equal worth merely…

BBC Audio 

The moral maze of the British constitution

Melanie, , ,

BBC Radio’s Moral Maze, on which I am a regular panellist, started its new run last night with a discussion about the moral duty of MPs. With the Brexit crisis setting government against parliament and parliament against the people, we asked whether the principal duty of MPs was to their constituents or to their conscience, and whether sovereignty lay with parliament or the people. Is the British constitution currently working as it should, or are MPs trying to subvert it – and is it ever going to be the same…

BBC Israel 

A climate of suspicion, or prudent defence against terror?

Melanie, , ,

A climate of suspicion, or prudent defence against terror? MI5 is to declassify and share information on UK citizens suspected of having terrorist sympathies. “Key” biographical data on potentially hundreds of people will be given to neighbourhood police, councils and other public agencies such as the Probation Service and the Charity Commission. Is this only prudent in the interests of national security, or does it needlessly compromise privacy and freedom? I discussed this on BBC Radio’s Moral Maze this week with fellow-panellists Giles Fraser, Claire Fox and Tim Stanley. Our…

Jews Culture wars 

Collateral damage in the smashed crucible of liberalism

Melanie, , ,

Is Britain’s Jewish community becoming collateral damage in the government’s flailing attempt to combat Islamist extremism? Yesodey Hatorah is a Charedi girls’ school in Stamford Hill with excellent academic results. Recently, it was inspected by Ofsted. According to the school, the inspectors had one thing on their minds: the school’s approach to sex education on which they questioned pupils. But Yesodey Hatorah doesn’t have sex education because this is contrary to the Charedi value of extreme modesty. Ofsted says its inspectors “know how to hold these conversations in a sensitive…

appearance Audio 

Maze of competitive sport

Melanie

Please listen to me here on BBC Radio’s The Moral Maze discussing with my co-panellists Giles Fraser, Matthew Taylor and Michael Portillo, in the wake of damning criticisms of champion cyclist Sir Bradley Wiggins and Team Sky, the grey lines over obtaining competitive advantage in sport.

Culture wars 

The cutting edge of secular illiberalism

Melanie

The chill winds of secular intolerance are blowing ever more strongly across Europe, with Jews now struggling against the blast. A bill is being considered by Iceland’s parliament to ban circumcision for children under 18 years old. So here we go again. Back in 2012, a court in the German town of Cologne ruled that the circumcision of a four-year-old Muslim boy constituted “bodily harm.” After an uproar, Germany hastily legalized ritual circumcisions if performed according to medical practice. German objections to circumcision nevertheless did not die down. The Icelandic…