At midnight on 5 November 2020, England went into another national lockdown to deal with the sharply rising Covid-19 infection rate. This lockdown superseded a series of local lockdowns that have enveloped some regions for months on end. Until an effective Covid vaccine can be rolled out comprehensively, lockdowns seem destined to remain a primary instrument of policy, at least in the UK.These bleak facts raise a number of important moral questions. What costs should we accept in order to reduce

Environmental activists adopt diverse strategies to raise awareness of the urgency and seriousness of the climate crisis, and push for policy changes to mitigate the crisis. Some of their activism sparks more controversy than others. “This isn't the way to protest,” said Florence mayor Dario Nardella, after labelling activists “barbarians” for their disobedience activity that involved defacing the walls of Palazzo Vecchio – a town hall building dating back to the 14th century. This isn’t the fir

As I write this, COVID-19, an illness caused by the new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, is sweeping the globe.[1] Over 15,000 people have died, and it is likely that at least one hundred times this many have been infected with the virus.[2]The outbreak has brought the ethics of quarantine, isolation and enforced social distancing to public attention. Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea and China have been praised in the press for their rigorous deployment of quarantine and other liberty-restrictin

In May, researchers at IE University in Madrid found that 51% of Europeans support replacing at least some of their politicians with artificial intelligence. Chinese citizens are even more bullish about AI-driven governance, with 75% of Chinese respondents indicating support for this proposal. Skepticism about the role of AI in politics finds a wider audience in the US and UK, where only 40% and 31% respectively approve of this idea.Which position on this question is more reasonable? Of course,

In a highly publicised move in December 2020, Pornhub (one of the largest pornography platforms) announced that it would ban and remove unverified video uploads in response to allegations that the site hosted content depicting actual sexual violence and child sexual abuse. As a result, the site reduced its content from 13m videos to ‘merely’ 4m. This, however, is far from sufficient according to activists and those working with perpetrators of sexual abuse, such as counsellors. In a series of ar

In the United Kingdom, the red poppy is worn to remember those who have died fighting for the British Army. In 2018, over 50 million pounds was raised from sales of the red poppy. According to the Royal British Legion, the makers of the red poppies, wearing the poppy is not compulsory. Despite this, many people in the public eye have been criticized for not wearing one. So much so that in 2006, the news presenter Jon Snow wrote that: “There is rather unpleasant breed of poppy fascism out there –

One of the first measures states took in response the outbreak of COVID-19 was restricting international mobility. By mid-2020, every country in the world had issued some form of special travel restrictions. Some of these restrictions have eased overtime. Yet, many countries remain effectively closed. Travel to the United States of non-citizens remains largely banned, unless one is explicitly exempted. Travel to Taiwan and New Zealand is virtually impossible for non-nationals. Many remain famili

The atrocities committed by Daesh (the self-proclaimed “Islamic State”) against the people of Iraq and Syria extend beyond murder, mutilation, and enslavement to the destruction of cultural property. It should surprise no one that such deliberate destruction of cultural property is prohibited by international law.The Hague Regulations Respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land (1907) prohibit ‘all seizure of, and destruction, or intentional damage done to’ institutions dedicated to religion,

Amongst those debating the justification for last December’s decision by the British government to join in the military intervention in Syria, some ask whether the UK is now engaged alongside its allies in a ‘Just War’. James Pattison, for instance, has argued that if we consider it properly, working through the key principles of what just war theorists call the ‘jus ad bellum’ (the justice of wars), it is not. The bombing of ISIS targets in Syria by the air forces of France, the USA, and now Br

The European Union is leading the global race to regulate artificial intelligence research and development. In June 2023, the European Parliament is scheduled to vote on the Artificial Intelligence Act, which establishes a framework to classify the risk level of AI applications, imposing more stringent requirements on riskier systems. One of the notable features of the Act is that it outright bans some AI-driven technology, including most applications of facial recognition software, social credi

EP Plenary session - Suspicions of corruption from Qatar and the broader need for transparency and accountability in the European institutions. Photo by Philippe Buissin, © European Union 2022 - Source: EP. Reference no.: EP-141745M.The shockwave of the “Qatargate” scandal in December 2022 has awaken the European Parliament (EP) and the entire European Union (EU) to the perils of political corruption. The (now deposed) EP Vice President, Eva Kaili, a number of MEPs and parliamentary staffare a

Adam Slavny examines defamation law in the #MeToo era and the intricate issues surrounding truth, bias, and political discourse.

It is widely held that violent revolution can be justified to end tyranny. It is equally widely held that foreign intervention is not justified to end tyranny. Intervention is justified, if at all, in a much narrower range of cases – perhaps to halt massacre or genocide, but not to end ‘ordinary’ oppression. On this view, state oppression may be sufficient to furnish internal revolutionaries with a just cause for violence, but simultaneously insufficient to generate a just cause for outside part

1. The Situation: Increased Urgency and Despair about Addressing Climate ChangeAlthough the urgent need to take significant action to slow, and ideally stop, climate change is clear to all serious observers, there is currently little reason for optimism about achieving these goals. The U.S. has pulled out of the Paris Agreement, and seems determined to make climate policy worse, reducing emission standards for cars, supporting coal, and so on. China, perhaps motivated by a need to keep domestic

Nicholas Carroll discusses the ethics of birthright citizenship and Trump's executive order to end it in the US.

In August 2020, Australia’s Prime Minister was asked whether any future coronavirus vaccine would be made mandatory. His reply was “I would expect it to be as mandatory as you can possibly make it”, with exemptions on medical grounds only. After drawing considerable attention, these comments were quickly walked back by the Prime Minister and other senior members of government, all seeking to reassure that a vaccine would not be made “compulsory” after all. Instead, the government would rely on “

The UK now grants refugees just 30 months' protection, after which they face deportation review, repeated every 30 months for up to 20 years. The government claims this reflects the true purpose of re...

How does having or lacking a postwar plan matter for the justification of resorting to war in the first place?

On 4 May 2023, H.E. Mr Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine, visited the International Criminal Court (ICC), where he was received by ICC President Judge Piotr Hofmański and ICC Registrar Mr Osvaldo Zavala Giler. © ICC-CPI On 17 March 2023, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for two individuals, the Russian President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, his Commissioner for Children’s Rights. The alleged crimes are the transfer of child

How does having or lacking a postwar plan matter for the justification of resorting to war in the first place?

On 4 May 2023, H.E. Mr Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine, visited the International Criminal Court (ICC), where he was received by ICC President Judge Piotr Hofmański and ICC Registrar Mr Osvaldo Zavala Giler. © ICC-CPI On 17 March 2023, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for two individuals, the Russian President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, his Commissioner for Children’s Rights. The alleged crimes are the transfer of child

In the past few weeks we have witnessed the activation of the crime of aggression as a crime triable by the International Criminal Court (ICC). This formal operationalising of the crime takes place against a wider debate in civil society about the extension of the material jurisdiction of the Court. Alongside its existing material jurisdiction it has been argued that the ICC should try activities like crimes against migrants, environmental crimes, cyberwarfare and other criminal activities of in

James Pattison criticises the humanitarian intervention rhetoric used to justify the recent US and Israeli attacks on Iran.

The European Union is leading the global race to regulate artificial intelligence research and development. In June 2023, the European Parliament is scheduled to vote on the Artificial Intelligence Act, which establishes a framework to classify the risk level of AI applications, imposing more stringent requirements on riskier systems. One of the notable features of the Act is that it outright bans some AI-driven technology, including most applications of facial recognition software, social credi

James Pattison criticises the humanitarian intervention rhetoric used to justify the recent US and Israeli attacks on Iran.

Consumers of non-consensually shared intimate images should be targeted by the government, not just the tech platforms on which they are shared.

James Pattison criticises the humanitarian intervention rhetoric used to justify the recent US and Israeli attacks on Iran.

News stories about so-called ‘paedophile hunters’ have become common. The number of prosecutions based on evidence from paedophile hunters has risen rapidly in England and in Scotland, and there are organized hunter groups in various countries (Hadjimatheou 2019).The Netherlands has recently seen an upsurge in violence by paedophile hunters. In 2020, Jan Kruitwagen died a few hours after having been assaulted when he went to meet a 15-year-old boy. Various cases of non-fatal assaults by members

James Pattison criticises the humanitarian intervention rhetoric used to justify the recent US and Israeli attacks on Iran.

James Pattison criticises the humanitarian intervention rhetoric used to justify the recent US and Israeli attacks on Iran.

Two prominent political theorists discuss the nature and wrong of political corruption, with a particular focus on Donald Trump's second presidency.

There's a tempting, optimistic view of social media which says that it can be a tool for positive social change. It connects people, allows information to flow quickly, and offers a platform to those who wouldn’t otherwise have one. All of this helps to raise awareness and increase understanding of important, overlooked issues and - the thought goes - this is an important first step to resolving them. A much lauded recent example is the #MeToo campaign, which raised awareness of the prevalence o

Recently, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced plans to propose controversial legislation that would implement a statute of limitations on prosecutions of former UK Armed Forces members who served in Northern Ireland prior to the 1998 Good Friday agreement, for actions such as unlawful killings, except for cases involving “war crimes, genocide or torture.” The legislation would also apply to actions committed by former members of Irish paramilitary organizations. If the Overseas Operations Bil

Jeffrey Howard discusses the many ethical questions raised by the new moderation changes at Meta, Facebook, Instagram, and Threads

Humans are fantasizers. One of the things we fantasize lots about is sex.Although puritanical types won’t approve, there’s much to be said for sexual fantasy (and its corollary, masturbation). It’s an easy source of pleasure. It quells powerful desires. It’s relaxing. It allows one to explore one’s sexuality. It staves off boredom. Sexual fantasies aren’t always OK, of course. Context and content are important. For instance, it’s probably wrong for men to fantasize about rape and for teachers to

In England and Wales, mounting court backlogs have fuelled proposals (including from David Lammy) to reduce jury trials. Joe Slater explains the many pros and cons of jury trials and how to think more...

Jonas Haeg writes about the importance of language when describing AI-assisted injustices like deepfake pornography

Ilaria Salis, an Italian anti-fascist activist, recently spent more than a year in jail followed by more than a month under house arrest in Hungary, where she was charged with conspiring to assault participants of a far-right march in Budapest. Her detainment, which drew international criticism and caused a diplomatic scandal between the far-right regimes of Italy and Hungary, ended, for now at least, in mid-June 2024 when Salis was elected as a Member of the European Parliament in Italy and thu

Humans are fantasizers. One of the things we fantasize lots about is sex.Although puritanical types won’t approve, there’s much to be said for sexual fantasy (and its corollary, masturbation). It’s an easy source of pleasure. It quells powerful desires. It’s relaxing. It allows one to explore one’s sexuality. It staves off boredom. Sexual fantasies aren’t always OK, of course. Context and content are important. For instance, it’s probably wrong for men to fantasize about rape and for teachers to

Jonas Haeg writes about the importance of language when describing AI-assisted injustices like deepfake pornography

Their monument sticks like a fishbonein the city’s throat -Robert Lowell, “For the Union Dead” Across the world today, societies are roiled by controversies surrounding the decision about who should be counted as a hero worth honoring with the erection of a monument. Nowhere is this more evident than the United States, where in recent years monuments to the leaders of a short-lived slaveholding republic called the Confederate States of America have become flashpoints in debates between conservat

To grant permission for intimate, physical, acts, consent should be unambiguous. However, our sexual scripts – how we conventionally express our consent – are often subtle, unspoken, and rely on impli...

Humans are fantasizers. One of the things we fantasize lots about is sex.Although puritanical types won’t approve, there’s much to be said for sexual fantasy (and its corollary, masturbation). It’s an easy source of pleasure. It quells powerful desires. It’s relaxing. It allows one to explore one’s sexuality. It staves off boredom. Sexual fantasies aren’t always OK, of course. Context and content are important. For instance, it’s probably wrong for men to fantasize about rape and for teachers to

On one page of the ICCROM document Protecting Cultural Heritage in Times of Conflict, just below an image of a stone Buddha with the face blasted off, is a photograph of an apparently intact building, with the caption: ‘Intangible heritage affected during the military operations of 2007-2011 [against the Taliban insurgency]: people stopped coming to the Grand Shrine in Saidu Sharif, fearing for their security.’ Examples like this reveal a distinct and under-appreciated way in which war can threa

As I was scrolling through my Facebook feed last week, I came across an article in The Guardian with the headline ‘California prosecutor who campaigned against vaccines mandates dies of Covid.’ Since British newspapers do not typically cover the deaths of Californian deputy district attorneys and given that the unusually long headline spotlights this prosecutor’s political advocacy, it is safe to assume that the reason why The Guardian decided that the death of Kelly Ernby was newsworthy for its

Guy Aitchison and Saladin Meckled-Garcia write about the ethical implications of naming and shaming as a form of punishment in light of the UK's new Sentencing Bill, Clause 35.

Guy Aitchison and Saladin Meckled-Garcia write about the ethical implications of naming and shaming as a form of punishment in light of the UK's new Sentencing Bill, Clause 35.

Two prominent political theorists discuss the nature and wrong of political corruption, with a particular focus on Donald Trump's second presidency.

Cian O’Driscoll explores the moral complexities of "the right of conquest" in modern conflicts like Ukraine and Gaza.