So what has Mehdi Hasan actually learned?

Is is bravery or masochism that’s prompted Medhi Hasan to jump straight back into the fire by regaling the world with his list of “10 Things I Learned From Debating Abortion On Twitter“? Who knows for sure, but as the article is up at HuffPo I suppose the […]

Maria Miller, Abortion and ‘Common Sense’.

The current upper limit for legal elective abortions (24 weeks gestation) is back in the news, yet again, courtesy of an article by Channel 4’s Cathy Newman at the Papal Telegraph’s new ‘Wonder Woman’ blog section – and, no, having looked over the section there’s not of hint […]

No evidence of abortions ‘without sign-offs’ – updated

From the file marked ‘Misleading Headlines’ the Press Association (as churned by MSN UK news) reports: 400 abortions ‘without sign-offs’ More than 400 abortions were carried out last year without the right information being submitted to the Chief Medical Officer (CMO), official figures have shown. Doctors also failed […]

Do women need pre-abortion counselling?

While we’re waiting for the Department of Health to launch its consultation on the future of pre-abortion counselling, a new study has been published by the Guttmacher Institute which sheds some interesting light on women’s needs and choices at the point at which they make contact with abortion […]

Cranmer and Foetal Pain

If you’ve ever read Richard Dawkins’ book ‘The Greatest Show on Earth’ or seen his Channel 4 series ‘The Genius of Darwin’ then you may readily recall the rather surreal interview that Dawkins conducted with an American creationist named Wendy Wright. If you’ve not seen the series or […]

When ‘Rape Humour’ can be justified

For a while, I’ve been pondering over writing a post on the subject of rape humour and when it can and cannot be justified. I got as far as digging out a rather good paper on humour during the Holocaust, which goes some way to illustrating some of […]

The Return of the Infanticide Debate

It’s not often that a paper in a medical ethics journal manages to generate a major shitstorm but a new paper by Alberto Giubilini (Monash University) and Francesca Minerva (University of Melbourne) has managed to do precisely that and the clue to understanding why is probably obvious from […]

DSM-V: An Old Controversy Revived

It not that often that I come across an article in the Guardian that leave me grinding my teeth in sheer frustration, save for those rare occasions on which the newspaper has given Nadine Dorries an undeserved platform. However, this truly dreadful piece of naked churnalism by the […]

Meet the Panelists – BBC Question Time 2009-2012

Apropos of my last article on tokenism and gender balance in the composition of BBC Question Time panels, I’ve now pulled together a complete list of the people who have made at least one appearance on a Question Time panel since January 2009 and am looking for a […]

Abortion Counselling consultation resurfaces

As one idiotic idea fades temporarily (?) into the background with the withdrawal of Nadine Dorries’ misconceived abstinence education bill from last Friday’s House of Commons order paper, another resurfaces in the form of proposals to alter the current framework for pre-abortion counselling which are, in part, a […]