The disconnect between high political ceremony and grubby federal politics has fuelled the cynicism towards our political traditions. Do these traditions do anything to temper the behaviour of politicians by reminding them of the moral obligations of high office?

Do political ceremonies retain any meaning in a time of political opportunism?

Contemporary politics is punctuated with competing calls for royal commissions. Have we lost sight of their benefits and dangers?

Royal commissions have become a kind of measure of how seriously a government is taking an issue of public concern. But they can also be used as a political tool. Is it time to re-examine their legal and moral foundations?

What has happened to the way we think about ethical decision-making that makes us even consider programming robots to make ethical calculations?

From driverless cars to robot carers, technology holds out the promise of overcoming human imperfections, inefficiencies and irrationalities. But do robots have the capacity to make complex moral decisions?

Nothing is more corrosive to public support for military intervention than the horror of mounting casualties. The use of military drones is often justified by the assurance that they keep military personnel out of harm’s way. But do drones pose a deeper ethical problem?

Military drones hold out the promise of risk-free warfare, but at what expense to military courage?

From fashion to food, we are in constant danger of tacitly supporting exploitative or cruel practices. Yet many consumers choose wilful ignorance over shopping ethically. Why?

The 2013 collapse of the Rana Plaza garment factories in Bangladesh revealed the human cost behind the cheap clothes we buy. But what explains the disparity between ethical convictions and consumer choice?