Halcyon Identifies

Are people in liberal democracies increasingly willing to trade freedom for prosperity and security?

Global freedom declined for the third year in a row in 2008, according to an annual survey of political and civil liberties around the world.

Problems - 10/12/07

• Freedom/Media - world opinion is divided on the importance of having a free press, as many people consider it more important to maintain social harmony and peace, even if it means curbing the press's freedom to report news truthfully.

Responses - 20/10/07

• Freedom/Media - the latest Press Freedom Index shows improvements by most G8 countries. Worldwide results are mixed, however.

Responses - 20/08/07

• Humanism - many believe we now need to emphasise much more reason and enquiry, freedom and responsibility, values, tolerance and compassion.
• Religion - others argue that modern religion is not primarily about God, but is a perfectly rational expression of the human need for the sacred.

Problems - 01/06/07

• Addiction - should taking drugs to enhance sports performance be allowed?
• Choices - blink or think - what's the best way for making decisions?
• Freedom - are governments around the world becoming more sophisticated in using the internet to how restrict their citizens' freedom?
• Globalisation: does globalisation entrench gender inequality, particularly in Africa?
• Slowness - is the recent vogue for slow food, slow travel, slow shopping and slow cities becoming counterproductive?

Problems - 21/05/07

• Freedom - it appears that Internet censorship is on the rise in many countries.
• Future - c.100 writers and thinkers were asked what factors would define the 21st century; few of them expect the world to get better in the coming decades.