#equalmarriage
Let’s just say that the Scottish Parliament building (aka ‘Holyrood’) does not inspire universal affection among Scots. I’ve encountered one local tour guide who invited anyone who was interested to...
View ArticleAdvice, please…
We try to avoid meta around these parts, but the trainwreck on the #equalmarriage thread has prompted some necessary thinking on all our parts, and an admission from me. First, the thinking. This blog...
View ArticleImages of the Macabre and the Grotesque
Cardinal Keith O’Brien said countries which legalise gay marriage are “shaming themselves” by going against the “natural law,” and should not consider their actions “progress”. He claimed same sex...
View ArticleWhat Would Joseph Kony Do?
What would Joseph Kony do If he were here right now? He’d burn a blond gay muppet or two, That’s what Joseph Kony’d do. Last week, it emerged that the M25 — for those not in the know, the ‘London...
View ArticleUnequal Marriage
The UK’s largest Muslim body today spoke out in support of Church leaders backing traditional marriage, following the Coalition Government’s proposed changes to the role and status of the institution....
View ArticleDefined out – guest post by Lorenzo
[SL: Last night, I went to a debate hosted by the Edinburgh University Debates Union (sic), on the proposition 'this house supports same-sex marriage'. I was going to say that the Oxford Union it...
View ArticleThe Law is an Ass Bandit
Scotland could become the first part of the UK to introduce gay marriage after the SNP government announced plans to make the change. Ministers confirmed they would bring forward a bill on the issue,...
View ArticleNone so blind
In the course of exploring the history and dynamics of bigotry, of moral exclusion, and the history of money (particularly the similarities between the goldzone Great Depression and the Eurozone Great...
View Article'A Plea in Law for Equal Marriage'
As many of you know, I won the 2012 Law Society of Scotland Essay Award for a piece entitled ‘A Plea in Law for Equal Marriage’. The question to which my paper was a response was this: An MSP would...
View ArticleBilbo baggage
The further back you can look, the further forward you are likely to see. Winston Churchill. With the release of the first film of The Hobbit trilogy, An Unexpected Journey, the blogosphere is rife...
View ArticleThe Laws Are Made for People…
…And not people for the laws. First, an apology for my lengthy absence. I have discovered that working and studying at the same time is difficult, so much so that I have resolved never to combine the...
View ArticleSIWOTI: the Margaret Thatcher Edition
In order to understand this post, you need to be familiar with this cartoon. Familiar? Good, now onto the ‘fun’ part. As a general rule, I try to avoid the situation in which the cartoon’s protagonist...
View ArticleCheck your expectations (2) Women preferring Sharia
I am deeply sceptical about any legal recognition of Sharia on two grounds. First, it is profoundly misogynist, starting with the discounting of evidence from women. Second, it evolved as an imperial...
View ArticleHuman societies as studies in relative scarcity: the price of children, the...
That modernising societies experience a “demographic transition“–a change from high fertility and high death rates to low fertility and low death rates with an intermediate period of high fertility and...
View ArticleAgainst free markets
The term that is. There seem to be few usages that are a greater barrier to clear thought and debate than free markets. Whether used as a term of sneering abuse to create straw-person arguments or as a...
View ArticleSCOTUS misreading history
While I am talking about the recent Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) case, United States v. Windsor, I am not going to presume to tell the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) how to do US...
View ArticleSocial bully politics
I have previously articulated what I call the paradox of politics (or the paradox of rulership)–we need the state to protect us from social predators but the state itself is the most dangerous social...
View ArticleSaturday chit-chat: ELECTION FREE!
The average height of men has risen by almost 11cm since the mid-19th century, experts have found. Data was collected on hundreds of thousands of men from 15 European countries. For British men, the...
View ArticleMarriage, procreation and the triumph of rhetoric and rationalisation over...
Arguments against same sex marriage (such as here and here) typically get marriage and procreation the wrong way round. It is not that marriage is supported because it produces children — the only...
View ArticleThat word, it does not mean what you think it means
In US states such as Kansas, Idaho and Arizona a new legislative push is on to create a religious entitlement to treat (a specific group of) fellow American citizens like crap. What’s more, it is being...
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