“A senior High Court judge is stepping down after being reprimanded by the Lord Chief Justice and Lord Chancellor for speaking out on the problems of marriage breakdown” (The Times, December 18, 2013). Last December, the judge, Sir Paul Coleridge, wrote an article that criticized “the Government’s plans to allow gay marriage and accused ministers of wasting effort on an issue that affects ‘0.1 per cent’ of the population.

Africa’s newest nation, South Sudan, is on the verge of civil war as two factions fight for power (Agence France-Presse [AFP], December 19, 2013). “Hundreds of people have been killed and thousands more terrified civilians have fled their homes” (ibid.).