Quaequam Blog!

Day: February 11, 2008

  • Rowan Williams: still clinging onto exceptionalism

    Blink and you might miss it, but someone at the BBC has finally spotted the real problem with Williams’ speech and his repeated clarifications: He made that clear to the Synod, too: “…as the assumptions of our society become more secular…Christians and people of other faiths ought to be doing some reflecting together.” That of…

  • Is time travel the new porn?

    The Daily Mail’s Science Editor Michael Hanlon has a pop at the trend in physics towards ever more outlandish theories in the New Scientist this week: Fun yes, but is it harmless? Scientists, and people like me who stick up for science, are happy to pour scorn on astrologers, homeopaths, UFO-nutters, crop-circlers and indeed the…

  • Nick Clegg’s half century: not out

    Not my best ever article, but I’ve written about Clegg’s first 50 days over at Comment is Free. I’m delighted to see my Tory baiting has caused a reaction: All the signs are there to indicate that David Cameron is likely to have a poor 2008. Gordon Brown’s remarkable meltdown has not brought Cameron the…

  • Is it time to revisit rules on lobbying Lords?

    Cameron is to capitulate over Lord Oakeshott’s private members’ bill aimed at ousting peers who are resident abroad for tax purposes. The clear target of the bill, Michael Ashcroft, who is currently running a Messagespace advertising campaign to push his two latest books, has this to say about his beloved Belize on his website: Belize…

  • General Synod: how Williams should break the ice

    There’s still time to give Rowan Williams some advice on how to spin himself out of the mess he’s created for himself at the General Synod today. My suggestion is that he should start with something like this: When I set out to write a speech about major religions operating their own quasi-legal systems, I…