Social Issues Comment - Media, Press, New Media

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• "Michael Jackson Passes - Echoes of Elvis"
  Latest Social Comment Editorial by Mal Fletcher


• Do The Private Values Of Public Leaders Affect Their Performance?
  BBC World News (Vid)


• Do Young People Appreciate Their Parents?
  BBC TV Breakfast (Vid)


• Teens & Celebrity Culture
  BBC Radio 5 Live (Aud)


• The Human Face of HIV/AIDS
  EDGES w/ Mal Fletcher (Vid)


• The Surveillance Society
  UCB Radio (Aud)


• Articles
  Magazines, Newspapers etc.
  

• family issues, the place of family in society, strengthening the family
• youth issues, including: violence & gangs, alcoholism
• the 'new frugalism', changes in consumer attitudes during recession & the social impact of hyper-consumerism
• privacy issues (e.g. freedom of speech vs. community cohesion, challenges of digital money)
• the social impact of celebrity culture
• generational issues, including the tensions/links between the major generations of our time
• 'life-and-death' issues (e.g. euthanasia, assisted dying), esp their social impact
• changes in media & new media - & their social impact
• likely future trends in cultural values in the global environment
• religion/faith/spirituality, esp the place of Christianity in Europe's heritage & future

	Where Have All The Leaders Gone? Why Management in Government is not Enough In times like these, where society faces multiplied challenges and real or perceived threats people need leadership. Yet leadership seems to be in precious short supply. What are people offered in its place? Management and administration - most of it poorly executed at that... View Full Article
	Is Celebrity Culture A Good Thing? Why Parents need to Engage In the age of mega-corporate packaging of the likes of the Jonas Brothers, are we simply reinventing celebrity culture for a new generation, or is something more going on? The big difference today is possibly that the pushing of celebrity is aimed at much younger kids, and that celebrity culture affects people way beyond their teenage years... View Full Article
	Swine Flu Fear Is A Bigger Contagion The outbreak of swine flu in a number of nations worldwide is rightly a cause for concern. But it is not yet a cause for wide-spread anxiety. This situation is already showing signs of morphing into yet another example of the science and politics of fear... View Full Article
	ID Theft Six Ways To Stay Safe According to a new study on Internet security, fraudsters can now buy your credit card details, your name, address and date of birth for less than the cost of a can of coke. There are no guarantees of absolute security, but are there ways we can minimize the likelihood of falling victim to Internet scams... View Full Article
	Julie Myerson Story Are 'Liberal' Values Failing Us? Last week, a British mother spoke passionately about the pain caused by her son's cannabis addiction. The story has sparked all manner of debates in the media: about the dangers of cannabis use - and particularly skunk, a greatly strengthened form of the drug - and the use of "tough love" in trying to help troubled teens... View Full Article
	Children As Parents Baby Maisie, Celebrity Culture & Fewer Marriages. Two children, aged 13 and 15, have become parents in a story that is now receiving maximum exposure across the British media. Perhaps there are unexpected links between this sad story, set in a relatively poor housing estate, and two other reports that emerged last week... View Full Article
	Assisted Dying Is It Really So Merciful? In the face of the very real suffering endured by people in pain, some commentators have called assisted dying an act of mercy. But is it really the most humane response to suffering and where will it lead in future generations? Assisted dying laws are filled with terms that can be interpreted very subjectively... View Full Article
	Financial Crisis A Time for Caution Not Fear This is undoubtedly a time for caution and reassessment; but it is not a time for crippling fear. Persistent fear reduces our self-esteem and leaves us with a paralysing sense of impotence and fatalism. It kills our confidence. We stop trying new things; we stick to the predictable instead. We stop experimenting and growing... View Full Article
	From Zero to Hero Young People Appreciate Their Parents at 22 A British poll published recently suggested that young people only begin to really appreciate their parents when they reach the ripe old age of 22 years. Some parents of teenagers will find this disheartening, to say the least. 'Surely, we can expect some respect before then?', they'll say... View Full Article
	Hybrid Stem Cell Research A Step Too Far This ought to be no less shocking to us than cloning human life, which is frowned upon, indeed illegal, in most civilized countries. And who's to say that if we condone and financially underwrite such activities today, we won't see scientists tomorrow using the techniques to take the process a few steps beyond the cellular stage.... View Full Article
	Credit Crunches, Greed & Discontentment What Can We Learn? Most of us who don't breath the rarefied air of the corporate big wigs of Wall Street or the Square Mile in London are left scratching our heads and wondering what all this means for our futures. As comedian Jay Leno put it, recent events suggest that, 'if you screw up, you pay. If they screw up, you pay.'... View Full Article
	AIDS What Can We Do? It's been said that the number of people dying of AIDS represents the equivalent of 20 fully loaded 747s crashing every single day for a year. At least 33 million people are alive with HIV and perhaps another 43 million have already perished from AIDS. AIDS is the biggest health problem the world has ever faced.... View Full Article
	Immigration Benefit or Burden? One of the architects of the modern EU, Francois Mitterand, once said: "I'm afraid that when Europe's body is reunited it may lose its soul." The question on which our minds should be focussed, though, is not whether we should allow immigration, but it should be managed.... View Full Article
	Porn Is A Poison Changing the Label Does Not Change the Content Some prominent social commentators say that the growth of the porn industry reflects the breakdown in western culture - and a threat to human health. Yet many people who expose themselves to porn see it as nothing more than a pleasurable pastime. Who's right?... View Full Article
	Political Correctness Can You Legislate Tolerance? If you were trying to see it in its best light, you might say that political correctness is an attempt to come to terms with the complexities of life in a pluralistic society. Yet pluralism, when it is divorced from boundaries or spiritual values, leads to a form of cultural schizophrenia.... View Full Article