Ethical Record Articles

Art versus Genocide – Armenian Survival

Nouritza Matossian, a writer of seminal biographies and daughter of genocide survivors asks a burning question. Why did it take a hundred years for the world to recognize the Armenian Genocide of 1915 by the Young Turks in the Ottoman Empire? A million and a half citizens were uprooted, tortured, killed, robbed of goods and […]

Bees and Planet under Threat

From his shop at No. 326 Holborn, a stone’s throw from Conway Hall, Daniel Wildman sold both bees and hives. The bees were encouraged to build comb and store honey in bottles and bell jars on the top of his hives. Curious to know where his urban bees foraged for honey, Wildman would dust them […]

SoapBox @ Thinkers Corner – Election Analysis

The election will have passed and a government may be in place. In any event, on this day it is a chance for you to have your say. What are your thoughts of the political parties? Their manifestos? Their ethical behaviour during/after the campaign? Could this be the end of two-party politics in the UK? […]

What are Professional Ethics?

The origins of this talk lie in a presentation entitled The Future of Conway Hall Ethical Society – Direction or Drift? to the Ethical Society on 15 March 2015 (subsequently printed in the April 2015 edition of the Ethical Record), in which two principal questions were raised:- What is meant by ‘Ethical’ What should an […]

London Thinks: How to Topple a Dictator

In conversation with Nick Cohen, Srdja Popovic will explain how he became one of the leaders of Otpor! — the movement which overthrew dictator Slobodan Milosevic. He has since gone on to train the pro-democracy activists behind the Arab Spring, Occupy, and many other movements. Drawing on his new book, Blueprint for Revolution, he will […]

London Thinks: The Rise of UKIP

The Rise of UKIP: Where did it come from, and how far can it go in the general election? Filmed at Conway Hall: Thursday 19th March 2015

London Thinks: A Scientist, an Atheist Biblical Scholar and a Vicar Walk into an Ethical Society

All change: Religion & Belief in Britain

Why does this matter? We are in a fast changing environment where the knowledge and impressions about religion and belief that those of us who grew up in Britain in the latter part of the 20th century are no longer reliable. Britain is now a plural society and that will become increasingly apparent over time. […]

William Lane Craig’s Eight Reasons for God: Refuted

William Lane Craig is Research Professor of Philosophy at the Talbot School of Theology, California. He travels the world lecturing and debating to large audiences on the alleged revival of Christianity and the alleged demise of atheism. In the November 2013 (issue 99) of the popular bimonthly magazine Philosophy Now he had an article entitled […]

Santayana as Social and Cultural Philosopher

A talk on Santayana, is, I think, timely. For many years he’s suffered undeserved neglect in Britain; he doesn’t – as I believe he should – occupy a major   place on university   philosophy courses,   or in   the philosophy section of bookshops and libraries. The neglect is curious in view of the fact that in the […]

Contemporary Wars – The War in the Ukraine

My first contacts with the Russian language and people were in the late 60s but I first visited Russia in 2009, and have maintained a close interest ever since. The aim of this talk is to briefly look at the background to the present situation in Ukraine for which most of the mainstream media reporting […]

Britain’s Head of State Should be Elected

Debate  In 1215 bad King John was confronted by his rebellious barons and forced to concede them some rights, later enshrined in the Magna Carta. Amazingly, for the next 800 years, apart from a 12 year blip in 1648, the monarchy has continued in this country. Now, in 2015, some rebellious commoners called ‘Republicans’ are […]