It didn’t take long, did it? Yes; it’s off and running – the Covid-19 freight train of conspiracy theories. (more…)
China accounts for close to a quarter of all of Australia’s international trade, and over a third of its exports, including both goods and services. Is Australia trading too much with China and too dependent on the Chinese economy, as a lot of the public commentary would have you believe? (more…)
Australia must call on Israel to lift the crippling blockade so that Gazans can be given a chance to fight Covid-19. (more…)
Getting in early to stop the spread of the virus would have been good for the community, and from Crown’s perspective good for the company’s floundering reputation, as it faces multiple official inquiries. It would also have demonstrated that even ‘special’ companies have to play by the rules. (more…)
Imagine stopping the boats the centrepiece of your entire political platform for 10 years, and then failing to stop the one boat that actually fucking mattered.
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In the eleven days since we first tried to make sense of the Federal Government’s approach to the current health crisis, little has changed in its approach. (more…)
From next week, we will be outsourcing the production, technical support and promotion of Pearls & Irritations. (more…)
On Sunday, February the 23rd my Australian husband and I was in Florence Italy, where we regularly enjoy an alternative residence, and lifestyle, to that of Basel Switzerland. We had tickets for a coveted opera performance of Donizetti’s Don Pasquale, that afternoon when we heard the news.
What do you think of when you hear the phrase “stem cell therapy”? Miracle cures for wheel chair bound paraplegics? Building new organs to replace burned out old ones? Eternal beauty and youth? Immortality? (more…)
Last week we explored why government responses to the Covid 19 crisis seemed to be tardy and we argued for an expert apolitical group to lead the response. (more…)
This is an edited transcript of an interview I conducted with the ABC for a podcast series The Eleventh. (more…)
I am being challenged to consider and discern why I remain a Catholic in a Church whose membership is declining and ageing;whose clergy are decreasing in numbers and ageing,where many Catholics, particularly our children, are no longer attending Mass and accessing the Sacraments.Where do we go from here? (more…)
I laughed so hard I could hard stop myself from crying. There’s no limit to the wonderful capacity of human beings to produce clowns to make us laugh our way through every crisis. (more…)
Bjorn Lomborg presents an ambiguous type of anti-climate action rhetoric. He argues that the recent bushfires were insignificant, and that we should not research renewable energies because of cost, while also recommending costly research. (more…)
The global reaction to the consequences of COVID-19 is absolutely warranted BUT its low mortality rate has lulled some in Australia into ignoring the fight against a highly contagious virus. (more…)
One of the puzzling and troubling aspects of the Australian response to the Covid 19 public health crisis is that the actions taken or advised by government have often lagged behind what many in the community, including people with expert knowledge, are agitating for. (more…)
On 24 January, Chinese doctors and scientists reported the first description of a new disease caused by a novel coronavirus. (more…)
I suspect that the Australian people have never really abandoned their ethical view that people’s lives supersede profits. (more…)
Greta Thunberg said ‘Before I started school striking I had no energy, no friends and I didn’t speak to anyone. I just sat alone at home, with an eating disorder’ ..‘All of that is gone now, since I have found a meaning, in a world that sometimes seems shallow and meaningless to so many people’. (more…)
There are support groups springing up at community level in various places, offering contactless food delivery for self-isolating people and for the elderly left without carers, and regular telephone calls for the isolated. (more…)
As the current pandemic takes hold, we would do well to remember that the Coronavirus is a mere stumble in comparison to the Climate Change crisis. (more…)
Why did so many countries watch the epidemic unfold for weeks as though it was none of their concern? (more…)
According to his lawyers, Mr Assange was handcuffed 11 times; stripped naked twice and searched; his case files confiscated after the first day of the hearing; and had his request to sit with his lawyers during the trial, rather than in a dock surrounded by bulletproof glass, denied. (more…)
In mid-February the number of cases of COVID-19 in South Korea suddenly increased and there are now over 5,000 confirmed cases. As a result South Korea has instituted containment strategies, designated clinics for mass screening and established over 200 public relief hospitals. How does Australia’s response compare?
They’re the best of our boys. One is a “musician from a good high school,” another a “boy scout” who majored in theater.” They’re the snipers who have shot thousands of unarmed protesters along the Gaza border fence. (more…)
Beijing is using the outbreak to boost its reputation for global cooperation while Washington plays the blame-Beijing game. (more…)
At a dinner party in mid-February, an architect told me that he was having a problem finishing his building projects. It was the carpets. (more…)
A third of northern NSW’s ancient and irreplaceable rainforests burnt last year. Buffers need to be established, and weed control undertaken, to increase their resilience. (more…)
For 40 years, Republicans have been insisting that “government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem.” (more…)