The shift to electric cars is an essential element of our climate mitigation strategy. But to repeat a cliché that is fundamentally true: electric cars are not a plan to save the world; they are a plan to save the car industry.

The fact that we have to take everything about SMR technology on trust is important because for almost a century, the unfulfilled promise of the nuclear energy industry has left a trail of destruction in its wake. While carbon-neutral from a certain perspective, any claim that nuclear energy has been good for the environment can only be financially motivated. Apart from the obvious catastrophic impact of the Fukushima and Chernobyl disasters, in the ten years from 2006-2016, Greenpeace found 166 “near misses” at nuclear power plants in the USA alone.

At the heart of the prison-black-hole phenomenon is a refusal to recognise the humanity of the prisoner. The person in prison ceases being a citizen, a neighbour, a person with a complex narrative that can explain how they ended up where they are. They no longer warrant our empathy. They become faceless and nameless.

This semester I have been teaching a course on how theology relates to power and politics. It has been a joy to watch students grapple with classic theological texts – so apparently distant from their everyday experience – and see them realise how sharply they apply to pressing contemporary issues. At the same time, I… Read more »

My wife and I rented an electric cargo bike while on holiday last year and were awakened to the possibilities that they offer. A bike like this can carry kids and bags and shopping over far longer distances, with ease. The government offers a €1,500 tax free allowance to buy electric cargo bikes. They cost next to nothing to run, and in traffic are as fast as any car.

Christians don’t need to wage any wars in defence of Christmas. But we do need to find new ways to sustain the transformative message of Christmas in our contemporary age.

How should we respond to the disruption caused by climate activists? It seems that the pattern established in response to historical activism including the movement for universal suffrage and the civil rights campaign in the USA is being followed here. Both these movements have universal support today but were deeply distrusted and even despised when still fighting their battle.

For most of us, time is money. Quite literally. We live in a society where the majority of people exchange their waking hours for payment we call wages, so as to provide for the essentials of life and, if are fortunate, a few occasional luxuries. It is curious that for all the time we spend… Read more »

What’s the point of having a centre for faith and justice if the faithful don’t really care about justice?

The Enola Gay was already 15 kilometres away when the bomb detonated 44 seconds later, about 700m above ground. Bob Caron was the only crew member facing the city. He saw the air crinkle from the horizon and then three successive waves caused the plane to creak, groan, and shake. The crew reported their mouths filled with a sour taste. The captain remembers whispering, “My god, what have we done?”