The Department of Education is planning a new primary school course of Education about Religions, Beliefs and Ethics. While this sounds good in theory, it will not be delivered objectively in practice. This is because the Irish State cedes control of the ethos of schools to private Patrons, 90% of whom are Roman Catholic Bishops. To ensure […]
President Obama has made a welcome contribution to the US Presidential Primaries campaign, calling on everyone to help to reverse the cycle of vulgar and divisive rhetoric, attempts to shut down public debate, and actual violence. In what could almost be a satirical response to the President’s message, The Young Turks media outlet, which could […]
I’m in a nostalgia-trip mood today, so here is some archive video (of varying quality) of the classic Leeds United 1970s line-up of Gary Sprake, Paul Reaney, Terry Cooper, Billy Bremner, Jack Charlton, Norman Hunter, Peter Lorimer, Allan Clarke, Mick Jones, Johnny Giles and Eddie Gray. Also some footage of Don Revie, Paul Madeley, David […]
Today in London, Right2Debate and the Council of Ex Muslims in Britain are organising a protest rally at the National Union of Students, to call for the reform of policies that restrict freedom of expression, including censoring people who challenge the injustices caused by Islamism. When I was a Students Union President in the early […]
I am returning here to the defamatory smears made about me last month by Aoife Fitzgibbon O’Riordan, who alleged that I was using dog-whistle homophobia to defend dog-whistle misogyny, and Aidan Rowe, who alleged that I support trans-misogynistic hate speech. I again ask them to withdraw and apologise for these smears. This is part of a growing […]
There was recently discussion on my blog about problems that transgender people face when using public toilets. I have always supported everybody’s right to be treated equally before the law, and free from discrimination, but I didn’t know how best to apply this principle to the use of public toilets. After some research, I have found […]
Aron Ra talked about religion and secularism in American Government, at an Atheist Ireland public meeting in Dublin yesterday.
In a project instigated by Atheist Ireland, Atheist Alliance International has published a Gender Balance Report. It was coordinated by John Hamill, Atheist Ireland’s representative on the AAI Board, with input from Ashling O’Brien, Atheist Ireland’s Regional Officer, and Professor Sabina Brennan of the School of Psychology and Institute of Neuroscience at Trinity College Dublin, […]
This General Election could have one of two long-term benefits for Irish politics, in the era of the incredible shrinking ‘two-and-a-half-party’ parties. The two most credible outcomes seem to be (a) a Fine Gael Fianna Fail Coalition, or (b) a minority Government, led by either Fine Gael or Fianna Fail, perhaps in Coalition with some […]
Jane Donnelly and I are among the signatories to this letter, published in the Guardian today. Please lobby your national politicians to condemn this escalation of the death fatwa against Salman Rushdie. We are outraged to learn that 40 state-run media outlets in Iran have raised $600,000 (£420,000) to add as bounty to Ayatollah Khomeini’s death […]