Category Archives: Uncategorized

In last week’s budget, George Osborne decreed that in future, benefits payable for children will only be paid for two children per family, and not for the third or any subsequent children. Apart from what else is wrong with this, such as … Continue reading →

There were three demonstrations in Oxford city centre yesterday, on Easter Saturday, April 4th. One by the English Defence League, one by Unite Against Facism, and one by Thames Valley Police, aided by reinforcements from several neighbouring forces. The police … Continue reading →

Reports say that the British schoolgirls who have run off to Islamic State territory, presumably to become jihadi brides, would not be charged with any offence in the unlikely event that they ever return to Britain. You’re just the wife, … Continue reading →

I have been thinking a lot in the last few months about ‘them’. You know, ‘they’, the ones who are behind it all. Or rather, I have been thinking about the generic use of ‘they’ and ‘them’ in how people … Continue reading →

One. Describe new technology in some inflammatory way, strongly suggesting that it represents an extreme violation of nature or existing moral frameworks or social convention. Two. Wait a few seconds: this will entice out of the woodwork ‘small c’ conservative … Continue reading →

It is time to consider if the staggeringly widespread rape abuse and prostitution of underage girls and young women, by gangs operating seemingly with impunity across wide areas of the UK, constitute crimes against humanity. A crime against humanity is … Continue reading →

Some graduate students in philosophy at University College London told me this week that Philosophy Bites had just put out a podcast compiling philosophers’ nominations, from previous Philosophy Bites podcasts, of who they thought was the most impressive philosopher they … Continue reading →

20th January: Oh dear, it’s one of those days where yet again people are seemingly worrying that we are going to run out of pictures of naked women. All the ones on the internet must be getting used up or … Continue reading →

I  noticed that some people are putting out the inevitable messages on social media claiming that ‘if only’ somebody out there in the street had a gun, they could have dealt with the Lindt cafe gun man by now, and … Continue reading →

It’s advent. The season of excitedly preparing for the Christmas festivities. The season of good will to all men. I’ve been reasonably efficient this year, and went to our local sub-post office to buy my stamps for my North American and … Continue reading →

Twitter can be quite useful for providing links to news items, reports, and so on. It can also be quite fun for quips, jokes, and off the cuff remarks. It is also useful for stating the obvious, which sometimes needs … Continue reading →

Should there be any faith schools in the UK? One straightforward view is that the answer to this question is ‘no’, that religion has no place in education, and certainly no place in an education which is condoned by or … Continue reading →

In one of the large lecture rooms in Examination Schools on Oxford High Street, I took my BPhil exams. I sat at a desk at the very back of this same room and cried. But I cried not during my … Continue reading →

One. John Stuart Mill was not right on everything, by any means, but he did have some decent notions. One idea he had which is pretty good, was to promote a liberal framework within which different ideas and opinions could … Continue reading →

I’ve been undertaking the dismal task of looking again at online comments made about me in the wake of my almost entirely futile attempt to clarify the status of reports of Charlotte Coursier’s inquest. Futile, because many people seem unable … Continue reading →

Don’t worry, this is not a blog giving you a cookery lesson. It’s a blog about a lesson I learned from cookery. If I intend to make a cake, and I ask my children what sort of cake they want, the … Continue reading →

Suppose that you go every day to collect your children from school. One day, another parent tells you that she’s heard people gossiping about you, for example, saying what a bad mother you are. You won’t really want to go … Continue reading →

Two events happened on July 10th this year. The Home Secretary gave a speech to the Women’s Institute. And meanwhile, in Nottingham, child abuse survivor and whistleblower Melanie Shaw sent out a message asking for help. What have these two … Continue reading →

One of the many aspects of the extremely complex cases of horrific child sex abuse and exploitation that have been revealed recently, is that some cases seemingly were not investigated or pursued on the grounds that the girl involved ‘consented’ to … Continue reading →

In April of this year, Jeffrey Ketland published some claims about me which are misleading. This has received some attention from other online commentators to Ketland’s blog post, and additionally the debate has also been taken up elsewhere. I have not … Continue reading →

If we want to expose cover-ups, it’s time we stopped talking about them. Paradoxical? No. If people look for a cover-up, they will be looking for some organised conspiracy. They will be looking for evidence that X and Y knew … Continue reading →

If you don’t know what this refers to, good. I’m not about to enlighten you, because life is too short to bother with such trivia and such madness. If you do know, and if you know me, and realize that I … Continue reading →

In fact, it’s a lot fucking worse, if you can’t see that, you must be a fucking moron, just the kind of thing I’d expect from someone like you, over-privileged wanker in your fucking ivory towers. Ivory! Don’t you know … Continue reading →

Here’s part of an email I received from my child’s school today: “COMMUNITY GOVERNOR FOR THE CHERWELL SCHOOL Are you a qualified accountant? Are you a Cherwell parent, present or future, or a member of the local community, who would … Continue reading →

In amongst the current cat calls across Parliament about the state of British education in schools, there can be heard the cry for sex and relationship education in schools. I never thought I would be sceptical about the provision of … Continue reading →

If you read some reports, you’d think so. But there are many problems with recent claims that philosophy has a particularly bad problem with sexual harassment. One thing that has especially troubled me is that reports of the apparently high … Continue reading →

Prize competition: Which philosopher said this to me in response to a question I raised at a seminar many moons ago? Me: “How, on your view, can moral judgements provide reasons for action?” Him: “That’s a good question.” (Pause.) “Did … Continue reading →

One theory has it that proper names are rigid designators. A rigid designator, according to Saul Kripke who introduced the idea in his book Naming and Necessity, refers to exactly the same thing in all possible worlds. As I see … Continue reading →

I teach ethics. Like many other subjects, including literature, theology, psychology, sociology, medicine, anthropology, history, and art history, proper study of this subject will expose students to material that ‘some may find distressing’. It would be impossible to teach it … Continue reading →

There’s an example by the philosopher Michael Slote used to illustrate an issue with consequentialism. A family has broken down outside a hotel. There are empty rooms available, and so the manager kindly offers them a meal and a cabin … Continue reading →