Let them eat cake – thoughts on fairness and justice

This week on Afternoon Tea we are exploring questions about fairness and justice. In our first slot of the week, we talked about the difference between equality of outcome and equality of opportunity. I suggested that we might represent this simply by thinking in terms of sharing out a cake (because I like cake). Imagine… Continue reading Let them eat cake – thoughts on fairness and justice

Who judges?

Traditionally in our legal system there are distinct roles in ensuring that the Law is obeyed. The Police are responsible for enforcing the Law. This means that they seek to prevent crimes being committed by acting to pre-empt criminal activity. It means that when someone has broken the law they have the power to arrest… Continue reading Who judges?

“Do not judge…”

“Who are we to judge?” It’s one of those argument ending killer phrases isn’t it?  Usually the phrase is then followed up by two other phrases. “Do not judge others, and you will not be judged.”[1] “let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!”[2] The deployment of these phrases are designed to… Continue reading “Do not judge…”

Cummings and Goings

As promised, here is part two of my thoughts on the Dominic Cummings case. I want to focus here on the question of how we interact with rules.  The key question for DC’s future is whether or not he did break any rules. If he broke lockdown rules, then this is serious because he has… Continue reading Cummings and Goings

Learning the wrong lessons from a crisis

Don’t you long for the days of good old political knock about and debate? December, the General Election and Jeremy Corbyn’s resignation as Labour leader seems so far away now. For us political anoraks, this week should have been a big occasion. We would be looking forward to the special conference revealing a new leader… Continue reading Learning the wrong lessons from a crisis