Atheism, Reason, Happiness
30 days ago Angela Merkel gave Boris Johnson 30 days to come up with a workable alternative to the Irish backstop in the Brexit deal. Johnson said that he was more than happy with that timetable. Here’s what has happened since.
Ten years ago,
Like most people who make such plans, Anne died naturally at the end. But the peace of mind she got from that decision boosted her quality of life during the year and a half before she died.
Since then, I have campaigned for the right to assisted dying. Here is a talk that I gave in Paris two years ago on the issue. You can watch it above, and read it below.
Watch my debate with Niall Boylan, on Virgin Media TV’s Ireland AM, about opting out of religion in Irish schools.
Listen above to my debate yesterday on Today FM, with David Quinn of the Iona Institute, about religious schools and human rights in Ireland. Matt Cooper is the host.
Listen above to my interview today on RTE’s Drive Time, about how to exercise your legal and constitutional right to opt your child out of religion class. Also, listen below to another interview on the same programme, with parent Ciara Roosli.
Listen above to my discussion today on Newstalk Radio, about a Catholic school in Ireland that is giving homework passes to children who attend religious ceremonies, and refusing them to children who do not attend religious services.
I have mixed feelings about James Cameron’s powerful movie the Game Changers, which I watched yesterday. It makes a convincing case for athletes to switch to a plant-based diet, to benefit their sporting results, general health, and even sexual performance.
It follows James Wilks, a US military instructor and former UFC fighter, as he recovers from a serious injury that left him unable to train for six months. He finds a recent study that concludes that, contrary to accepted wisdom, Roman gladiators ate little to no meat.
Glam rocker Marc Bolan might now be preparing for his 72nd birthday, if he had not been killed in a car crash on this day in 1977.
His music with T. Rex permeated my last years of primary school, from Get It On and Jeepster, through to Children of the Revolution and 20th Century Boy.
It is great to see the positive public reaction to Gareth Thomas, former captain of the Welsh rugby team, announcing that he is living with HIV. While celebrities are of course ordinary people, their announcements can have a big impact on public perceptions of HIV and funding for HIV research.
Monty Python once recorded a song about the joys of visiting Finland. It has the underwhelming chorus of “Finland, Finland, Finland, The country where I quite want to be…”
But Michael Palin’s lyrics have proven to be prophetic, as Finland is the happiest country in the world, according to the 2019 World Happiness Report.