Technology is pushing back the frontiers of early survival for babies, writes Mary Kenny

The centenary of the Irish Home Rule bill was finally signed into law on September 18, 1914, and it is a nice coincidence that exactly a hundred years later, Scotland will vote on a referendum for or against Scottish independence. The debate about Scottish independence does prompt the thought: how would the Irish people have…

One of the most salient aspects of the troubling recent case in which a woman was given a Caesarean section at 25 weeks pregnancy (after she sought a late abortion for suicidal feelings) was the report that the woman herself had said she might be “killed” for being pregnant. At the time of writing, we…

Theologians ever since Aquinas have pondered on the case for the ‘Just War’.

Superstition and sickness

Bravo to France for taking the initiative in offering asylum and protection to beleagured Iraqi Christians from Mosul. The French press has followed these dreadful persecutions much more closely than the mainstream press in the English-speaking world.    Ironic that the French Republic, so affirmatively a secular state, has been the most responsive to afflicted…

Is golf a genuine sport? A veteran sports writer, Simon Barnes, has suggested that it is not, because "sport should involve some risk". Golf is way too comfortable to be a real sport, he suggests.    It's no more a sport than croquet – a mere pastime.   I've always had mixed feelings about golf,…

I felt very sad about the late Peaches Geldof (pictured) when her inquest was made public last week – her death having taken place in April. It was disclosed that 79 heroin syringes were found in her home in Kent, plus a large stash of high-quality heroin. Due to her death, her baby son Phaedra…

Mary Kenny looks at ‘blame’ and ‘responsibility’