Imagine if they preceded the opening of Australia’s peak science body with a mass led by a Pentecostal preacher. The collective shrieking of the chattering classes would be deafening. But, put on a bit of oogabooga mysticism, and suddenly, everyone comes over all solemn and worshipful. That’s what
lindsaymitchell.blogspot.com The Domestic Purposes Benefit has been variously described as a “disaster” (David McLoughlin 1995), an “economic lifeline” (Jane Kelsey 1995) and “an unfortunate experiment” (Muriel Newman 2009). Its effect on family formation can never be definitively ascertained. But the growth of the sole-parent family dependent on
In due course, we will have a new government formed and it’s been signalled there will be a ‘mini-budget’ that will involve cuts to government expenditure. All well and good: an important inflation-fighting measure desperately required, and I think I speak for the man in the street
When I studied university science, we were given a checklist of “How to spot a pseudo-science.” What’s passed off by the media-political elite as ‘climate science’ ticked nearly every box, from Resisting Change and Professing Certainty, to Making Exaggerated Claims and Claiming a Conspiracy Against Them. The
Michael My name is Michael and my brand new book entitled Chaos is now available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com. In addition to my new book I have written seven other books that are available on Amazon.com including 7 Year Apocalypse, Lost Prophecies Of The
In George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire books (better known as the bowdlerised Game of Thrones tv series), jesters often play important, if minor, roles. Some, like Patchface, serve as one-man Greek choruses; others act almost as clandestine agents. The knight-made-fool, Ser
Michael Scott Bryant Professor of History and Legal Studies Bryant University Late in 1938, Nazis across Germany attacked Jews and their homes, businesses and places of worship and arrested about 30,000 Jewish men. The attacks became known as Kristallnacht – the “Night of Broken Glass” – for the streets littered with
Katie Pickles Professor of History University of Canterbury When the legendary Phar Lap won the Melbourne Cup in 1930, the big chestnut horse didn’t just live up to his Thai name, which means “lightning”. He also brought together strands of colonial history and mythology that are only now properly
Adam Behr Newcastle University theconversation.com In 2023, to still be working on Beatles music … to release a new song the public haven’t heard, I think it’s an exciting thing. Not surprisingly, Paul McCartney was positive about the appearance this week of what has been trailed as the
Charles Krblich Chuck Krblich works in the insurance and reinsurance industries as a catastrophe manager. brownstone.org My wonderful wife handles all of the Halloween planning for our family. She arranges the costumes, the candy, puts up the decorations, and manages the inevitable costume parties. This year my wife chose
A controversial headline, perhaps, but designed to spark debate. I will attempt to justify it with some facts, both positive and negative; however, the negatives outweigh the positives by some margin. The 2023 election is of course a true result of an election run under the MMP system, but I
An article written by Sheree Trotter (Te Arawa) in 2017 and reposted by the Israel Institute of NZ a few days ago has some good observations. Gaza is ruled by Hamas, a Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist organisation that does not recognise Israel and whose charter calls for genocide. Hamas is the
As I previously wrote for The BFD, human foibles of class and prejudice persist even on the spiritual plane. It’s notable, for instance, that ‘past lives’ invariably show a bit of cachet: everyone’s an Egyptian priestess; no one’s a plumber from Grimsby. Similarly, ghosts are notably posh
In 1941 the Australian Labor party came into office through a dirty deal by cross-bench MPs. Prime Minister John Curtin was completely unsuited to the job and thrown into an international crisis with little idea of what to do: he was saved from himself by officials and winning a
