"It’s a beautiful thing, the destruction of words." So says the character Syme in George Orwell’s great novel 1984. Orwell charts how words are both removed, evacuated of meaning and occasionally have their meaning reversed. The most famous example in the book is perhaps the threefold slogan ‘War is Peace, Ignorance is Strength, Freedom is Slavery’. But why does all this spring to mind because of Trevor Phillips, chair of the Human Rights and Equality Commission?
In the News
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February 17th, 2012
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February 17th, 2012The two candidates in France’s presidential election are using euthanasia as one of the defining differences in the campaign.
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February 16th, 2012
As the debate about gay marriage heats up, the pro lobby is playing its trump card: it is arguing that opposing gay marriage today is as batty and backward as opposing interracial marriage was in the past. Activists clearly think this is an argument-winner because they’re repeating it ad nauseum. One writer says “same-sex marriage opponents don’t realise how closely their rhetoric mirrors that of the anti-miscegenation activist”. In California, gay-rights activists continually cite the Supreme Court’s stinging attack in 1967 on bans on interracial marriages, and call on the court to do “the right thing” once again by lifting the ban on gay marriage. An image doing the rounds on Twitter and Facebook shows modern-day campaigners against gay marriage alongside racists campaigning against interracial marriage in 1950s America, as if they were one and the same.
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February 16th, 2012In a debate in the House of Lords last night, the Government took a very welcome and necessary step toward improving care for rescued child victims of trafficking in the UK.
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February 16th, 2012Lord Carey's comments come after a week in which religion has come under intense attack. Last Friday the National Secular Society and an atheist councillor won a High Court battle which effectively bans formal prayer at local council meetings.
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February 16th, 2012It is easy to agree wholeheartedly with Tim Montgomerie, the well-known Conservative commentator who gave life to ConservativeHome. Tim has an established pedigree as a thoughtful and eloquent social and economic conservative. He was instrumental in the creation of the Centre for Social Justice and has been a steady supporter of Iain Duncan Smith, with whom he has worked closely for many years. Tim was also a co-founder of the Conservative Christian Fellowship and has long been a flag-waiver for intelligent, compassionate conservatism.
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February 16th, 2012Oklahoma’s not the only state passing laws restricting abortions this week. The Virginia House of Delegates passed two of the strictest anti-abortion bills in the nation on Tuesday, and opponents say it’s part of a strategy which would make abortion illegal immediately if the Supreme Court were to overturn Roe v. Wade, CBS reported.
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February 16th, 2012Fulani Muslim herdsmen along with Muslim soldiers have killed at least 45 ethnic Berom Christians in Plateau state in the past week, Christians in this northern-central Nigerian town said.
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February 16th, 2012A Jordanian prince has refused to give assurances over whether radical cleric Abu Qatada would get a fair trial if he were deported to Jordan.
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February 16th, 2012Merin Nielsen, 50, was convicted by the Supreme Court in Brisbane of aiding the suicide of Frank Ward, 76, in June 2009.