All our prisons are doing is “warehousing” drug users and releasing them again, thereby ensuring that many will return to using drugs and back into prison. 

Introduction: Manufactured Chaos We are living through a moment of extraordinary political upheaval. From the United States to Europe, leaders who present themselves as defenders of “common sense” are reshaping societies in ways that benefit the wealthy while dismantling protections for the vulnerable. At first glance, many of these policies seem chaotic: reactive, rushed, even… Read more »

A new prison at Thornton Hall was a bad idea in 2005, and it still remains so.

The question of how people ended up with “multiple and complex needs” is avoided to focus on regulation, form- filling and box-ticking; all wrapped in the language of concern.

‘Children in Gaza are being shot by snipers’ This is a sentence that should never have to be uttered or written but unfortunately these are the words of Dr Mark Perlmutter, an American doctor who volunteered at a hospital in Gaza in April and May of this year. The children of Gaza are also starving.… Read more »

This article, by Fr Peter McVerry SJ, originally appeared Reality magazine in 2016. Eight years on and it is as relevant as it ever was. This week Ireland was told to shore up corporate tax laws to prevent wealthy from committing tax fraud and evasion. At the same time, we are rapidly expanding our prison… Read more »

What is loss and damage and why is it important? The causes and impacts of climate change are widely accepted. We know that more carbon pollution in the atmosphere, primarily from the burning of fossil fuels releasing carbon dioxide, leads to an overall increase in global temperatures. This causes a wide variety of impacts including… Read more »

Laudate Deum is clearly written to inspire the delegates who will attend the COP28 meetings in Dubai in December. Francis carefully lays out how previous COPs concluded with high hopes that have never quite delivered. The reader can almost hear his frustration at how every year the Great and the Good gather and discuss these critical issues and every year they disappoint.

If a climate of fear dominates most public discussion of drug policy, it is often associated with, or justified, by a climate of moral disapproval – drugs are bad, therefore we must eliminate them, we cannot be seen to tolerate them in any way. The war on drugs must continue and any dissenting voices must be suppressed.  

Initially I travelled to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories hoping to gain a deeper understanding of my faith. In the end, witnessing the Palestinian people carry out their faith with openness and resilience brought a true insight into how God works.