Moral Maze
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Moral Maze
Combative, provocative and engaging live debate examining the moral issues behind one of the week's news stories. #moralmaze
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257 episodi
Is democracy a failed experiment?
Later this month, millions of demonstrators are due to take to the streets across the USA for a second time, under the banner “No Kings”. Organisers s...
Is recognising the state of Palestine a moral duty?
Prime Minister Kier Starmer has described the UK’s formal recognition of a Palestinian state as a “moral duty”, saying the change in policy would, "re...
To know or not to know?
Graphic details of Charlie Kirk’s death have been almost unavoidable on social media in recent days. Similarly, shocking footage of an unprovoked knif...
Is ‘net zero’ a moral pursuit?
The party conference season kicked off with claims and counter claims about the viability of Nigel Farage’s proposals for government. One issue that u...
Does the media reflect or exacerbate public disquiet?
One story has been dominating the news for several weeks: immigration. Whether it’s debates about how to stop the small boats, protests outside asylum...
What is the moral value of disgust?
The decision of OnlyFans and Instagram to ban the porn star Bonnie Blue, who engaged in sequential sex with more than a thousand men in 12 hours, indi...
Is it time to ditch historical figures as heroes?
The Bank of England has been accused of being the 'Bank of Wokeness' after proposing to cut historical figures from banknotes. Images of Winston Chur...
Is social cohesion a moral good? And can governments influence it?
Are we at risk of becoming “an island of strangers”? The Prime Minister, backtracking on many fronts, has apologised for the phrase - he says he hadn’...
Is Privacy an outdated concept or a moral right?
ID cards are back on the political agenda, digital this time, being pushed by an influential group of Labour MPs, and – surveys suggest – public opini...
What is the ethical purpose of the NHS?
The National Health Service is at a crossroads. Systemic pressures are lengthening hospital waiting times. Resources are finite. That’s why the govern...
Was Israel right to launch strikes on Iran?
Self-defence, as a justification for war, is much more difficult to argue if you strike the first blow. The Israelis say their devastating pre-emptive...
Is having children a moral duty?
There’s been a fair amount of focus on the concept of pronatalism recently and debate over whether it is left or right wing for governments to introdu...
AI: Promise or Peril ? Recorded at the Hay Festival
Almost the first thing the newly chosen Pope Leo XIV did was to warn of the dangers of Artificial intelligence, of technological advance outstripping...
Is free trade a moral good?
President Trump has imposed tariffs on all America’s trade; China has hit back; other nations, including our own, are working out how to cope with wha...
Does elitism damage or protect art?
Last year was a record-breaking year for poetry sales. In the age of smartphone ‘doom scrolling’, that might seem surprising. But the boom is in part...
What's wrong with men?
The Netflix drama ‘Adolescence’ has prompted a national conversation about a ‘crisis of masculinity’. In a society where gender roles are changing, pr...
How just is our justice system?
Proposed new guidance from the Sentencing Council for England and Wales – which is due to come into effect in April – would make the ethnicity, faith...
Is there a moral case for cutting welfare?
Sir Keir Starmer has called the current benefits system unsustainable, indefensible and unfair, and said it was discouraging people from working while...
When should we be grateful?
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has expressed his "gratitude" for US military support. It comes after the heated exchange in the Oval Office, w...
How should Britain deal with Donald Trump?
Three years on from the invasion of Ukraine, President Trump has called President Zelensky a 'dictator', leaving many to conclude that the US has side...
What should we do about inherited inequality?
In every species, including homo sapiens, the family is nature’s way of passing inequality down the generations. The family gives us our genetic make-...
Should morality be enforced?
Here are the instructions for your office Christmas party, issued by the Public and Commercial Services Union: “Sexual harassment and inappropriate be...
Is democracy still the 'least worst' form of government?
After decades of despotism, Syria is facing an uncertain but cautiously hopeful future - though many are sceptical about the sort of government that w...
Who and what is 'toxic'?
The allegations about Gregg Wallace’s behaviour on set have been described as being part of a "toxic environment". Once primarily used in the domain o...
What is a healthy attitude to death?
The debate around assisted dying exposes fundamental questions about our attitudes to death. We will all die. Nothing is more certain. But it’s not so...
Is loyalty a virtue or a vice?
Donald Trump has made some eyebrow-raising, some might say jaw-dropping, appointments to his top team. While a number of the appointees still need Sen...
Does intent matter?
Celebrity chef Jamie Oliver has pulled his new children's book from the shelves after complaints that it stereotyped Indigenous Australians. Some Firs...
VAT on private school fees: justice or spite?
The tax increases on private schools, though long trailed, were among the most emotive measures in last week’s blockbuster budget, because they’re wid...
The morality of sending offenders to prison.
Overcrowded, understaffed and in disrepair, Britain’s prisons are in crisis. One of the first acts of the Labour government was to announce that thous...
How should we help the global poor?
“Dawn... and as the sun breaks through the piercing chill of night on the plain outside Korem, it lights up a biblical famine, now, in the 20th centur...
Should Foreign Tourism Be Discouraged?
In recent weeks tens of thousands of protesters have taken to the streets in Spain’s most popular tourist destinations. From Málaga to Mallorca, Gran...
What do the riots say about Britain?
The past week of brutish, hate-filled riots has been a disturbing time for Britian’s minority communities. What started as a protest against the murde...
Is anything sacred?
One moment in the Olympics opening ceremony in Paris clearly touched a nerve: the tableau of mostly drag queens believed to be parodying Da Vinci’s ‘L...
24/07/2024
The Modern Olympics were founded in 1896 by a Parisian with serious moral principles . Pierre De Coubertin even made up a word for it: Olympism: ‘a wa...
How can we reduce the temperature of politics?
The attempted assassination of former US president Donald Trump was a dark day for American politics. We don’t know whether the gunman was induced to...
The Morality of Stepping Down
The idea of when to step down is front and centre in American politics as 81 year old Joe Biden continues in the Presidential race despite concerns ab...
What is history for?
Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf? Well, Camden Council for a start, who’ve put a QR code on her statue in Bloomsbury explaining that some of views and a...
Price vs Value of Arts and Culture
Taylor Swift fever has swept the UK week. She’s back in August and fans have been paying hundreds sometimes thousands to get their hands on seats thro...
Do we need a final farewell?
The way we grieve is changing and that is seen most starkly by the rise of the direct cremation and the no fuss funeral. I in 5 people of people opted...
Democracy - is our system morally superior?
It will soon be time to vote in the General Election. A moment for us all to play our part in democracy. The theory is that politicians do their bes...