Australia is, I fear, about to make an appalling mistake. Otherwise smart and empathetic people will be voting the same way as the knuckle-draggers and openly-racists (whose views they would normally abhor). And the morning after? Well, this letter, I think in The Saturday Paper, nails it.
The Australian Labor Party is going to get us all killed. Either slowly - via climate change - or quickly, as collateral damage in a war between China and the USA. And there is an interesting parallel in the policy processes underlying both disasters. I just finished reading 'Sleepwalk to War: Australia’s Unthinking Alliance with... Continue Reading →
So, the Australian government has torn up a contract it made with the French for some submarines and is now going to buy some nuclear ones. Smarter people than me (Laura Tingle, Guy Rundle etc etc) have written about the geopolitics of all this. One point, made by various commentators, is that building/operating nuclear subs... Continue Reading →
Hands up if you've ever changed your mind on a topic after someone called you stupid? [crickets] Yeah, me neither. I am not "stupid" (blah blah scholarships, degrees etc etc etc blah blah) but omfg have I done more (far more) than my share of stupid things. And the root cause of most of those... Continue Reading →
Let's say that there are three scenarios (all of which involve NSW losing control of the shituation - you could have other scenarios too, if you like, where Delta goes easy on us). Let's call them "same boat" "spot fires" and "deep moat" I think spot fires is most likely. Same boat In two months... Continue Reading →
Just under thirty years ago, about 100m from where I am right now, I saw the wonderful Thelma and Louise. There's a short clip that stayed with me that I think we need to remember. https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/2b001c5a-43ea-41f8-9271-219994adf091 Well, I was watching Insiders (Sunday morning current affairs, mix of interviews, humour, panellists, on the national broadcaster ABC)... Continue Reading →
Look at me, I'm on the other side of the world, ma! (1). Here's the view from my quarantine window. Yep, sunny (2) Adelaide. Two days ago I was in actually sunny Manchester. Thanks to the wonders of the internal combustion engine and a global infrastructure that supports/encourages hyper-mobility, even in a pandemic, here I... Continue Reading →
I find the whole Malthusian Moment (roughly 1969-1973) fascinating. I guess because I grew up in its aftermath, where it was still resonating, there were aftershocks. (This is partly because I mostly grew up in Australia, which was then even more of a backwater than it is now. I'd see movies from the era (The... Continue Reading →
Back when white nationalism was more mainstream (I mean before the Trump resurgence, I mean, back in the period up to the partial moral awakening that was the 1960s) there was a phrase for people of colour who didn't know their place. "Uppity..." well you can fill in the rest. "Uppity" - as in -... Continue Reading →
Last week I was invited to do a workshop with the South Australian branch of Citizens Climate Lobby. This blog post goes into some of the detail (tmi, in fact). I wrote it so I'd have something to refer to if/when I get the opportunity to do more, and as a way of forcing myself... Continue Reading →
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