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New Humanist | Winter 2023
Editor’s Note
What’s behind the fight over family values?
I JA K U Z N E C OVA
J EVG E N
Who we count as family, and how we make new ones, are questions at the very heart of our lives. These are highly personal choices, with major implications for society as a whole. As the world faces a demographic crisis, and more parents than ever make use of new reproductive technologies, it’s also a territory that is fiercely contested.
This edition of New Humanist takes a hard look at the family and its future. Gabriele Di Donfrancesco reports from Rome (page 30), the centre of an attempt to reassert “traditional values” in Europe. In practice, this entails undermining reproductive rights, along with the freedom to choose.
Yet elsewhere, choices are multiplying – if you can afford them. On page 42, Pavan Amara explores how emerging technologies might tempt more people than ever to create “test-tube babies”, with the ability to use just one parent’s genetic material.
Family life is changing in other ways, too. On page 34, Rachael Lennon celebrates a decade of same-sex marriage. She looks back on how Britain has changed for the better, while warning us never to take progress for granted.
The cynics among you can turn to page 52, where Fiona Sampson pays tribute to Philip Larkin’s marvellously misanthropic poem “This Be The Verse” – first published in New Humanist 50 years ago – which ends with the famous advice: “Get out as early as you can, /And don’t have any kids yourself ”.
Elsewhere, we talk to Dolly Parton about her unique philosophy of life (page 26) and ask why television today is so hungry for food content (page 56). On that note, is it time to introduce honest welfare labels for meat? Nicola Cutcher makes a strong case for more transparency on page 60.
We also report from Northern Ireland on the struggle to end the religious segregation of schoolchildren (page 38). On page 22, a psychiatrist gives a passionate defence of antidepressants, arguing that attacks on them are unscientific and hurt the most vulnerable. Finally, as George Soros steps back from his philanthropic activities, we ask how his son will cope with the wealth, power – and conspiracy theories (page 18).
This edition also hosts Shaparak Khorsandi’s first column, taking over the back page. Shaparak is an acclaimed comedian, writer and patron of Humanists UK. Welcome to Shapchat! l Niki Seth-Smith
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