Jesse Harrington

We live in a society of well-intentioned regulations to ensure consumer technology complies with only the best of standards.  Examples include long-standing regulations specifying the curvatures of vehicle wing mirrors, or the European Commission’s recently introduced (voluntary) “universal standard” to ensure all mobile phones use the same charger.

In June, the Italian Parliament approved Italy’s struggling third-largest lender, Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena (MPS), for another round of state aid.  This week, Reuters reports the Italian state may have to take a stake in the bank after it posted larger than expected first-half losses of €1.6 billion.

The ongoing debate in the United States over Obamacare recalls the value of religion in the debate on liberty.  Key to the religious perspective on the debate are efforts by the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to require Catholic organisations to provide contraceptive, abortifacient and sterilisation services to their employees as part of their health insurance programmes; an attempt which the Catholic Church has staunchly resisted as infringing on matters of conscience.