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The bottom of the barrel
In the 2008 United States presidential election campaign, and in the aftermath of the selection of Governor Sarah Palin as Republican candidate John McCain’s running mate, one issue that came up...
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The onward march of crude stupidity
A friend of mine is of the view that the movement of history is unstoppable and will continue to drive us towards enlightenment and progress. I think that on the whole I share that optimism, and I...
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Searching for higher standards of ethics: a real quest, or a wild goose chase?
In 1972 I completed my secondary schooling in Germany. As some readers may know, the final German school examination is the Abitur, and this has a written and an oral component. For the oral Abitur (at...
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Observing the political classes: the Berlusconi circus
One typical type of fall-out from economic crisis is a steep drop in respect for politicians. If conditions become really bad, most voters become really negative about the politicians who presided over...
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Protecting an educational ethos?
In 1985 in Ireland a female schoolteacher was dismissed by the secondary school employing her when she became pregnant. She challenged the lawfulness of the dismissal, and the case was heard in the...
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When institutional ethos conflicts with public policy
The University of Wales is currently attracting some criticism over its links with certain colleges that hold to what has been described as a ‘fundamentalist Christian ethos’. In particular, some of...
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The ethical dimension
Just after I stepped down from my post as President of Dublin City University, I received an email from someone who described himself as ‘an interested and concerned member of the public’. The email in...
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On the record?
A few years ago, when I was President of Dublin City University, I took part in what was a somewhat difficult meeting on a sensitive topic. Those present held, and expressed, a variety of what one...
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Cruel principles?
Some readers commenting on my last post drew attention to the appalling news just in from Ireland, of the death of a woman in a Galway hospital, where she had been taken as she was experiencing a...
View ArticleThinking about the digital economy
Some years ago when I was spending a morning in a somewhat obscure library in London looking for materials relevant to the development of a British trade union in the 19th century, I came across a...
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