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Author: Philip Booth

St Mary’s University – Dean of Faculty – Education, Humanities and Social Sciences. Professor of Finance, Public Policy and Ethics.

As well as Dean of the Faculty of Education, Humanities and Social Sciences at St Mary’s University, Philip helps to develop curricula and teaches in fields such as political economy, business ethics and Catholic social teaching. He also works for the Institute of Economic Affairs as Senior Academic Fellow. Click here to view Philip’s full profile

The NHS – an article of faith

The UK system of health provision is unusual. Our death rate from Covid is also unusual. It is widely reported that our figure for deaths per million of population is one of the highest in the developed world. We could look at this figure and put the blame in all sorts of places. If only we had tightened borders more quickly, we would have had fewer cases, and fewer deaths; if only we imposed lockdown more quickly; if only we had a population more willing to comply with the state’s desire to track and trace us; if only we were on two islands 2,500 miles from the next nearest large country; and so on…

Fossil fuel companies and Christian institutions – withdraw or engage?

There is increasing pressure on Christian organisations to disinvest from fossil fuel industries, but there is surprisingly little discussion about whether this is a good idea.

The Common Good: What does it mean?’

The Benedict XVI Centre at St Mary’s University, with Together for the Common Good, The Centre for Social Justice and Caritas Social Action Network, invites you to an evening discussion on ‘The Common Good: What does it mean?’ with Professor Philip Booth, Jenny Sinclair and Dr Sam Bruce, chaired by Ruth Kelly.

Property and human dignity – the prophetic message of Pope Leo XIII

There is a temptation to play down those aspects of Rerum novarum which related to private property. This encyclical was really about labour, it is argued. Or it is suggested that the right to property is only a secondary right subject to the universal destination of goods and therefore not important. Still others say it was an encyclical that, in this respect, reflected its time – a period when the Church’s property was under attack from extreme socialists.

Adding diversity to the university

Globally, there are 1,400 Catholic universities. They make a substantial contribution to the intellectual life of the Church. However, there are few Catholic higher education institutions in the UK. There is a reason for this. After the hierarchy was restored in England and Wales, the focus was on building schools and then churches without much thought being given to higher education. Indeed, most of our Catholic higher education institutions evolved from teacher training colleges.

Competition and co-operation – they are not alternatives

If you ask most people – perhaps Christians especially – what the opposite of competition is, they will suggest it is co-operation. So often you hear the phrase “co-operation not competition”. But co-operation is not the opposite of competition. Monopoly is the opposite of competition. I do wonder if any of the people who call for co-operation rather than competition have ever tried to run a businesses without co-operating with others: it would not be a success.

No salvation in fiscal policy

Yesterday, I ended a presentation to sixth-formers by commenting that nobody would want to be Rishi Sunak. Of course, in the strict sense that is not true – indeed, many of the people to whom I was talking might well have had ambitions to be Chancellor of the Exchequer. What I meant was that the Chancellor was facing the most difficult combination of circumstances of anybody in his position since the mid-1970s.