Skip to content

Special Guest Blog – The problem of militarism

Special Guest Blog – The problem of militarism

by Tony Coady

Israel’s decision to institute an inquiry into the military misadventure with the flotilla attempting to break its blockade of Gaza and its subsequent partial relaxation of restrictions on aid to Gaza represent grudging concessions to international outrage about the flotilla episode. Any recognition by Israel that its military policies are offensive to so many in the outside world is surely welcome. But the flotilla episode will be misunderstood if it is seen only as a failure in public relations or an instance of military mismanagement. Certainly it constitutes both of these since it has badly damaged Israel’s image throughout the world and alienated its few friends in the region as well as called into question the competence of its much-vaunted armed forces. But there is a deeper lesson to this tragic fiasco and that concerns the influence and failings of the spirit of militarism.

Read More »Special Guest Blog – The problem of militarism

Critical Care ethics series – the ethics of maxiple pregnancies

by Dominic Wilkinson Quads, Quins, Sexts, Septs, even Octs! High order multiple pregnancies such as the Suleman octuplets in California generate enormous media attention. However, they also raise some unique ethical questions. In the second of a series of seminars on critical care ethics, the neonatal grand round today looked at ethical questions arising from… Read More »Critical Care ethics series – the ethics of maxiple pregnancies

On Knowing (or Not)

Judy is an intelligent, articulate woman with a great sense of humor. She is also completely paralyzed on her left side. Trouble is, she doesn’t know she is. On the contrary, she knows that she isn’t.

What’s going on? Self-deception? Denial? Puzzling examples like this are scattered throughout a recent series in the NY Times, which explores what it means to know, not know, know what you don’t know and not know what you know. Follow? Me neither.

Read More »On Knowing (or Not)

Drugs in sport debate: Moderator’s closing comment

Our debate could have been polarized, between a pure libertarianism
which advocates the lifting of all restrictions on performance-enhancing
drugs in all sports, and a pure prohibitionism (similar to the WADA's)
which rules out any use of such drugs in any sport. In fact, it has been
more nuanced. There has been a good deal of consensus, both
participants agreeing for example that the safety of athletes must not
be compromised. The question we end up facing really concerns the
direction of travel in which we think sport should be moving – that of
looking into permitting more drugs in more sports, or that of continuing
the war against drugs in sport by testing with greater vigour and by
encouraging sportspersonship especially among the young.

Read More »Drugs in sport debate: Moderator’s closing comment

Drugs in sport debate: Proposer’s closing statement

by Julian Savulescu

At the beginning of this debate, I said doping would be a part of the
World Cup. Lionel Messi, arguably the greatest footballer playing today,
will star in the line up for Argentina against Germany in the Quarter
Finals. At the age of 15, Spanish football team Barcelona paid for him
to receive growth hormone to make him taller to "treat growth hormone
deficiency." It was likely this was an example of human enhancement and
doping. He is now 5 foot 7 inches – hardly a midget. Still, people love
to see him play. And it would be a tragedy if he were expelled because
his height was now "unnatural".

Read More »Drugs in sport debate: Proposer’s closing statement

The Rational Bigot

There are a few old white ladies in their 80s who might wish to blow up a plane, but on the whole, if your job is in airline security and security is your only concern, it would be rational to pay closer scrutiny to passengers who are single, young males, probably of south Asian or Middle Eastern or East African appearance. In yesterday’s Comment Is Free, Simon Woolley wrote disapprovingly about the Equality and Human Rights Commission. The EHRC had written to several police forces because it had identified that ethnic minorities in their areas had been disproportionately stopped and searched.

Read More »The Rational Bigot

Survey on community attitudes on early and late abortion

Do Australians’ believe that women should be able to access abortion later in pregnancy? A new survey (Australian attitudes on access to early and late abortion. Lachlan de Crespigny, Dominic Wilkinson, Thomas Douglas, Mark Textor, Julian Savulescu MJA 2010; 193: 1-4) of 1050 Australians published in the Medical Journal of Australia shows that the answer is overwhelmingly yes; when there is good reason. These results have broad implications in both Australia and elsewhere.

The survey gives a detailed picture of attitudes in a wide range of clinical and social situations using personalized questions.

The findings contradict a previous Australian Federation of Right to Life Associations survey that suggested that Australians strongly oppose women accessing later abortion. They also contradict some data in surveys from UK, Europe generally and USA (also here). Surveys have tended to be simple yes/no polls asking impersonal non-contextualised questions. Contextualised personal survey questions in other countries may also show greater support for women being able to access late-abortion. The findings are relevant to calls – including from Prime Minister David Cameron –to further limit the gestational limits for abortions in UK.

Read More »Survey on community attitudes on early and late abortion