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In the moral maze with coronavirus

March 6, 2020March 6, 2020 Melaniecoronovirus, Moral Maze

On BBC Radio’s Moral Maze this week, we discussed the moral dilemmas potentially involved in dealing with the coronavirus. We are already seeing, in Britain and around the world, restrictions on activity of varying degrees of severity and with knock-on effects already becoming apparent in cancelled airline flights, conferences and sporting events. If a pandemic develops, what is the right balance to be struck between the necessity of saving lives and the need to protect our way of life? Should we accept martial law, the isolation of towns and cities,…

Audio Britain Culture wars

The cultural chasm over Britain’s place in the world

February 21, 2020February 21, 2020 Melaniebrexit, climate change, national identity

I took part in a “Brexit breakdown” podcast discussion with Ian Dunt, editor of Politics.co.uk, and Anand Menon, Professor of European Politics and Foreign Affairs at King’s college, London and director of the UK in a Changing Europe initiative. Chaired by podcaster James Millar, our discussion quickly developed from the eponymous issue of Brexit which so divides us. After we talked about what it meant to us and how we saw it developing, we moved into wider and deeper cultural issues. These opened up before us as an unbridgeable chasm.…

Audio Britain

The moral maze that is the BBC

February 14, 2020February 14, 2020 MelanieBBC, Moral Maze

On BBC Radio’s Moral Maze this week, we discussed the moral purpose of the BBC. Does it even have one? With the government boycotting Radio Four’s Today programme in protest at its perceived bias, and now threatening to destroy it altogether through a fundamental change to its funding structure, we asked whether the Beeb’s original aim of uniting the nation has now become impossible in such an era of technological and cultural fragmentation. Can it or should it compete with Netflix, or does it still have a unique role to…

Audio Videos

Sky papers review and podcast

November 7, 2019November 7, 2019 MelanieAdam Boulton, Ian Dunt, newspaper review, Sky

I took part today with Ian Dunt in our regular newspaper review discussion on Adam Boulton’s Sky show All Out Politics. We ended up talking about just one topic: the issue in the UK’s general election of the antisemitism in Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour party. Our narrow focus was caused by this week’s dramatic Jewish Chronicle front page. Under a huge headline reading to “To all our fellow British citizens”, it declares: “This front page is addressed not to our usual readers – but to those who would not normally read…

Audio

Tolerating the intolerant in the moral maze

October 24, 2019October 24, 2019 MelanieBirmingham, Moral Maze, Muslims, toleration

On BBC Radio’s Moral Maze this week, we tackled the issue behind the controversy in Birmingham where mainly Muslim parents have been picketing a primary school in protest at its policy of teaching children about gay families. The city council has now applied for a permanent ban on protests at the school gates. The parents have been accused of bigotry and intolerance towards gay people; the school has been accused of bigotry and intolerance towards people with traditional religious attitudes. The row illustrates a sharp dilemma for a liberal society:…

Audio

Anger in the moral maze

October 4, 2019October 4, 2019 Melanieanger, Moral Maze

I appeared on the first of the new series of BBC Radio’s Moral Maze to discuss the morality of anger. With outrage and concern over over the language being used in today’s acrimonious political debates, we discussed whether anger can ever be of value or whether it invariably leads to bad consequences. It can be constructive if it’s harnessed to redress an injustice, but what if this objective is actually fuelled by the destructive desire for revenge? Is there a moral distinction between anger expressed in solidarity with the oppressed…

Audio Videos

My appearance on Sky’s The View, plus podcast

October 4, 2019 Melanie

I appeared with Ian Dunt on The View, the daily review of the papers’ opinion pages on Adam Boulton’s Sky TV show. Our main topics for discussion were Boris Johnson’s proposal to the EU for solving the Brexit impasse over the Irish border, and Prince Harry’s bitter remarks about the media treatment of his wife. You can watch this below. Ian and I later took part in a podcast on these and other topics with Adam and Sam Coates, Sky’s deputy political editor. You can listen to the podcast here

Audio

Antisemitism in the moral maze

July 26, 2019 Melanieantisemitism, Israel, Moral Maze

On BBC Radio’s Moral Maze this week, we discussed antisemitism. With the Equality and Human Rights Commission now investigating the Labour party for racism over the hundreds of examples of antisemitism by its members and the party’s apparent refusal to deal with these properly, the programme asked the more fundamental questions. What exactly is antisemitism? Can it be differentiated from anti-Zionism? Is antisemitism just one of many forms of racism or is it a uniquely pernicious prejudice? I discussed this with my fellow-panellists Matthew Taylor, Mona Siddiqui and Tim Stanley.…

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The fashion of clothing in the moral maze

July 12, 2019 Melaniecapitalism, clothing, fashion, Moral Maze

On BbC Radio’s Moral Maze this week, we discussed the morality of fashion. What, you didn’t know fashion was a moral issue? Tsk! According to designer-of-clothing-for-the-fabulously-rich Stella McCartney, we shouldn’t wash or dry-clean our clothes in order to protect the environment. Some performers at this year’s Glastonbury festival denounced “throwaway fashion” and are encouraging fans to buy their outfits second-hand (or “pre-cherished”). Is so-cheap-you-can-chuck-it clothing, or the sweatshop conditions in which some of it is produced, proof that capitalism is rotten to the last fibre? Or is this all literally…

Audio

Comedy and responsibility in the moral maze

June 21, 2019 Melaniecomedy, Jo Brand, Moral Maze

In the wake of comedian Jo Brand’s joke about throwing battery acid over Nigel Farage, my fellow panellists and I discussed comedy on this week’s edition of BBC Radio’s Moral Maze. Should humour have any limits, and if so where should these be drawn? Some people worry that our society is now far too quick to take offence and to shut down any expression they don’t like. Giving offence, after all, never did anyone any harm. But are some expressions likely to cause actual harm to be done? Does humour…