The Minefield

The reaction to the ‘rule’ adopted by U.S. Vice-President Mike Pence never to dine alone with a woman other than his wife, reflects a great divide that exists in our attitudes towards sex and gender. Are current forms of sex education enough to promote healthy, mutually ennobling relationships?

Are current forms of sex education enough to promote healthy, mutually ennobling relationships?

Consumers of news media and users of social media platforms have left behind so many of the ethical warnings that once chastened the way we view images. Can we break this epistemological and emotional reliance on images, and cultivate instead the virtues of prudence, attention and, above all, restraint?

Images have become a kind of modern vernacular. So what moral obligations are incumbent upon producers and consumers of the news media in an image-saturated age?

Public funding of the arts is a matter of contention, but does art have a value to society that renders it eligible for public funds? If so, what is the nature of that value? Is anything lost by the arts receiving public funds?

Does art have a value to society that renders it eligible for public funding?

After decades of untrammelled globalisation, nationalism now seems on the rise everywhere. But can nationalism be redeemed? Or it is just going to be a standoff between liberal cosmopolitanism and atavistic nativism from here on in?

Can nationalism be redeemed? Or it is just going to be a standoff between liberal cosmopolitanism and atavistic nativism from here on in?

Are we now residing in a post-truth age where people don’t object to truthiness, alternative facts and fake news? Should we pause to re-think what we value in society and how much truth we expect from politicians?

Is the arrival of a post-truth age synonymous with the liquidation of the bank of public faith?