vexed question

vexed question

A topic or point that people discuss or argue about at length, but never manage to settle or resolve. After three months of discussions, the vexed question of the disputed border continues to derail peace talks. How the government should go about dismantling the organization is still something of a vexed question.
See also: question, vexed
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

a vexed ˈquestion

a difficult problem that people often talk and argue about: They’re discussing the vexed question of private health insurance.
See also: question, vexed
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
See also:
  • a vexed question
  • vexed
  • a sore point
  • get the (dead) needle
  • get the needle
  • drive (someone) potty
  • aggro
  • hot take
  • the talk of the town
  • be the talk of the town
References in periodicals archive
If he gets past Billy Joe Saunders, I would love to see him get in the ring with either Kell Brook or James De Gale to try and sort out the vexed question of who is the Boss of the Middleweights.
BUSINESS leaders' open letter on the vexed question of a North East Metro Mayor is going to ruffle some feathers.
Might a recognition of the body's (relational) isolatedness open the vexed question of sexual accountability in a manner that is not jointly and respectively reducible to homogeneous categories of sex and presumed consensual commonality?
A new approach to the vexed question of how best caterers can meet the needs of young customers has been unveiled by Snowbird foods.
When commenting on this statement, Armenian Health Minister Derenik Dumanyan told journalists that it is a vexed question
It's a vexed question for any new parent, especially when toddlers become old enough to grab an iPhone and protest incessantly when they don't get to play with it.
He also looks at the importance of pilgrimage, the life and work of monasteries and priories, and finally the vexed question of 'heresy' charges and convictions in which he argues that hunting heretics was not a sign of a declining institution but of a vitally alive one.
The report, 'Cyber Security: The Vexed Question of Global Rules', which sheds light on India's current IT security scenario, says the biggest challenge for the country is to train and equip the law enforcement agencies including the judiciary, especially outside the metro cities.
IT IS good to see that the vexed question of what powers to bestow on England's biggest cities is obviously never far removed from government ministers' consideration.
Of course, this development raises once again the vexed question of whether or not football clubs should be run as public companies or be owned by their fans in some kind of mutual organisation.
This follows an agreement at ACTA talks in Tokyo this past weekend between the European Union (EU) and United States over the vexed question of brand rights versus geographical indication protection.
Part 1, "Theorizing Shakespeare in the Eighteenth Century and Beyond" includes Michael Bristol, "'A System of Oeconomical Prudence': Shakespearean Character and the Practice of Moral Inquiry" (13-28); Jean Marsden, "Shakespeare and Sympathy" (29-42); Nicholas Hudson, "The 'Vexed Question': Shakespeare and the Nature of Middle-Class Appropriation" (43-56).
Mr Haley also mentioned admission prices without touching on the vexed question of regular racegoers being forced to pay for something they do not want.
The franchised business sector is worth pounds 0.6bn to the North-east and here, where the entrepreneurial spirit has been dulled by generations of cradle to the grave employment, it could provide an answer to the vexed question of how to nurture risk-takers.
The notable achievement of this volume is to offer both an important corrective to conventional readings of the Fathers on divine impassibility, and to make a substantial theological contribution to the vexed question of divine (im)passibility in the Christian tradition.