Viewpoint

Anger and apathy, Bankers and BREXIT, Corruption and COVID, the ABC of Britain's decline, has determined our recent history. The Venerable Bede wrote in the 8th century that history should record the "evil of wicked men" to avoid sin, while describing the "good things of good men" to encourage virtue. James Macintyre's insightful and balanced Gordon Brown: Power with Purpose, Bloomsbury 2026, fal... Read More

"I don't need international law", Trump told the world in January; his "own morality", his "own mind" was all that he needed to formulate foreign policy. Trump's mind and morality do not inspire confidence. No reasonable person in a democracy would willingly agree to tolerate or endorse lawlessness within their own nation-state, so why is lawlessness between States once more acceptable? If law... Read More

In 2024, more than 200 mental health professionals issued an open letter theorizing that President Trump exhibited behaviours that meet the criteria for antisocial personality disorder. "Even a non-clinician can see that Trump shows a lifetime pattern of 'failure to conform to social norms and laws,' 'repeated lying,' 'reckless disregard for the safety of others,' 'irritability,' 'impulsivity,' ... Read More

At a rough estimate, the Church runs 3,100 hospitals and 15,000 clinics in the Least Developed Countries (LDCs). From Pope John XXII's Mater et Magistra in 1961 to Pope Leo's Fratelli Tutti in 2020, the Church has consistently called the rich nations to action: supporting the poorest, engaging their citizens in development, reducing indebtedness, extending the outreach and effectiveness of the Cat... Read More

Leela Ramdeen, Consultant, Trinidad and Tobago Catholic Commission for Social Justice & Attorney-at-Law writes: Albert Camus's statement is noteworthy. He said: "A man without ethics is a wild beast loosed upon this world." As a Catholic, there are a number of guiding ethical and moral principles that exist to guide my behaviour. They influence how I make decisions and how I live my life. We a... Read More

Donald Trump does not, in my opinion, deserve any more airtime than he already gets. I am incensed at many of his irrational decisions (and obvious need for power and recognition). In particular, his deployment of ICE agents throughout mostly Democratic states, and the resulting tragic and unnecessary murder of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis last weekend, brought out my disgust and anger. The United S... Read More

"Today the meaning of words is ever more fluid and the concepts they represent increasingly ambiguous", Pope Leo told gathered diplomats in the Vatican on 9 January 2026…"Or rather in the contortions of semantic ambiguity, language is becoming more and more a weapon with which to deceive, strike, or offend opponents," he continued. "We need words once again to express distinct and clear realitie... Read More

With Trump's quasi-invasion of Venezuela and removal of the President from Office, Pope Leo XIV spoke with vigour on 4th January whilst delivering the Angelus prayer for paths which, ' lead to the overcoming of violence and to the pursuit of paths of justice and peace, guaranteeing the sovereignty of the country, ensuring the rule of law enshrined in its constitution'. His voice is richly informed... Read More

What does imperialism mean? Lenin's 1917 Imperialism, The Highest Stage of Capitalism is the best known of the early twentieth century analyses. Its eerie echoes denounce "the financial strangulation of the overwhelming majority of the people of the world by a handful of 'advanced' countries". It describes how "this 'booty' is shared between two or three powerful world marauders armed to the teeth... Read More

All Kinds of Catholic - Episode 84 - Special Epiphany episode with Jacqueline, Claudia and Laura, Catholic women from the world of astronomy and astrophysics. They share how they each hold together the questions of science and faith, especially when it comes to the story of the Epiphany. Find out what these three women think about when they look up at a dark, starry sky - with wonder, and faith bu... Read More

You need to fall back on words such as evil and wicked, not much used these days, to describe the Israeli Government's banning from Gaza of some 37 humanitarian NGOs after a re-registration process. That ban ends, and sums up, a year in which not even clever propaganda and disinformation could disguise the true purpose of IDF brutality. But Palestinian national self determination was not the only ... Read More

The carol, 'In the bleak midwinter' by Christina Rosetti is regularly in the top 10 of the vote for nation's favourite carols. Verse 5, however is frequently omitted - its the one which says: Enough for him, whom cherubim Worship night and day, A breastful of milk And a mangerful of hay; AI tells me that, 'This verse describes the intimate and humble nature of the Incarnation' but suggests that th... Read More

Rutger Bregman, the Dutch historian and author chosen for this year's Reith lectures, gave them the title Moral Revolution, describing a wicked world, venal elites, and a degraded politics. He aims to make goodness "fashionable again" and has an enviable rhetorical and narrative style to that end. His is a message primarily directed at civil society not to our own - unfashionable -Government, tell... Read More

At a time of enduring national crisis, often emerging from public leadership built on straw, something hopeful happened last Friday: There was a recalibration of depth into and across the foundations and mission of the Bishops' Conference of England and Wales. Let me explain. Over the years I have enjoyed working alongside a number of Bishops: As a teenager Bishop Anthony Emery of Portsmouth inspi... Read More