As one idiotic idea fades temporarily (?) into the background with the withdrawal of Nadine Dorries’ misconceived abstinence education bill from last Friday’s House of Commons order paper, another resurfaces in the form of proposals to alter the current framework for pre-abortion counselling which are, in part, a […]

If it hasn’t already registered, 2012 is the bicentenary of the birth of Charles Dickens, and if Dickens is your kind of thing then you’ll be well catered for over the next few months as there are something of the order of 18 separate radio and television programmes […]

I dealt with the absurd proposition that the findings of the RCPsych/NCCMH review of abortion and mental health demonstrates that 98% of abortions carried out in the UK are, in fact, illegal within the provision of the Abortion Act 1967 in my last monster post on the subject […]

To give credit where it’s due, Lord Alton has published the full text of the letter he received from Lord Howe on the subject of the cost of abortion services to the NHS, giving us the opportunity to make a direct comparison between the contents of the letter […]

Hi-ho, Hi-ho, its back to the subject of abortion we go courtesy of the Daily Telegraph, whose fact-checking department is evidently still on an extended holiday: Abortion costs £30m higher than previously thought No, not really… Taxpayers spend £30million a year more on abortion than previously thought, the […]

Ordinarily I respond to comments at the Ministry in the usual way, i.e. by way a direct response in the same comments thread. But, every once in a while I get a comment which deserves a somewhat and more considered response, i.e. a separate post and this is […]

Nadine Dorries’ response to her nomination for this year’s New Humanist Bad Faith Award is – well – classic Dorries: The Humanist magazine are running an online ‘bad faith’ poll and I am apparently in the lead. I am not sure why anyone would admit to being a […]

I know, I know. The words ‘Vote Dorries’ are just about the last thing that anyone would expect to read here at the Ministry but just this once she’s a contender for an award that she undoubtedly deserves; New Humanist’s annual Bad Faith award. Admittedly its strong field […]

If there’s one piece of law that, more than any other, is guaranteed to generate media coverage that makes you want to headdesk then it has to be section 5 of the Public Order Act 1986, which reads as follows: 5 Harassment, alarm or distress. (1)A person is […]

As you might well imagine, the Catholic Herald is anything but regular reading at the Ministry. Nevertheless, a couple of recent articles published in the Herald have caught my eye because they disclose one or two interesting tidbits of information in relation to issues I’ve covered in a […]