ethics
A world history of morality is maddeningly optimistic
Peaceful co-operation is essential for human survival, and our present ‘feast of feverish discord and hatred’ is bound to be replaced by one of ‘calm and community’, says Hanno Saur
How serious is the Starmer sleaze row?
Another week, another accusation of sleaze in relation to the Labour party. After initially winning some plaudits over the summer…
Secrets of the couch
When a sex therapist arranges for his clients’ sessions to be secretly recorded, there are life-changing consequences for two women involved
Bring up the bodies
Margaret Mitchell on the ethics of museums of anatomical specimens
The question Christianity fails to answer: ‘Who is my neighbour?’
‘Fine old Christmas,’ wrote George Eliot, ‘with the snowy hair and ruddy face, had done his duty that year in…
Diary
First, an apology. Thanks to me, all journalists at BBC Radio’s ethics and religion division are being sent for indoctrination…
The car insurance industry is a disgusting racket
The car insurance industry is a racket: I think we all suspected that. But unless you’ve had personal experience of…
Beyond the call of duty: the kindness of strangers is a pleasing mystery
When I applied to medical school, an experienced doctor offered me some advice: ‘Don’t give them reason to think you’re…
I invented ‘virtue signalling’. Now it’s taking over the world
I invented the term ‘virtue signalling’ in The Spectator. Now it seems to be taking over the world
We let programmers run our lives. So how’s their moral code?
A few years ago, in the week before Christmas when supermarket sales are at their highest, staff at one branch…
Christianity is silent on my great moral dilemma
Proximity shouldn’t make a difference — should it? We were on a beach on the European side of the Mediterranean,…
Death watch
If you don’t think legalising ‘assisted dying’ is a slippery slope, you haven’t been paying attention
Why I voted for Jeremy Corbyn
Is the ‘Tories for Corbyn’ campaign politics at its most infantile? As one of the few conservative commentators willing to…
The defence never rests
Sir Ivan Lawrence QC on the Krays, Dennis Nilsen – and Chris Grayling
Lab test
I believe in animal research. But is there really a justification for using animals in biology lessons?
Ethics for atheists
Can human life be sacred in a post-Christian world?
Of ants and men
His publishers describe this ‘ground-breaking book on evolution’ by ‘the most celebrated living heir to Darwin’ as ‘the summa work…
