PC stands for political correctness, but in the culture wars now hotting up in the western world, and particularly in the US and Australia, it is taking on a much wider meaning. Increasingly it means, or signifies, anything that does not support the ever-narrowing views of leaders like George […] Continue Reading…

For years now the pundits have been predicting the end of office work and a migration of work to the suburbs. The advent of high-capacity computers and the Internet has supposedly made it possible for information workers to work at home now, so-called teleworkers.
Well, this trend has been slow […] Continue Reading…

Muslim women the world over are marching in protest against the decision of the French Government to ban the wearing of the hijab in schools. Why aren’t Christians marching as well? The French government decision doesn’t just ban Muslim headscarves, but Christian symbols such as cross and crucifix […] Continue Reading…

After a brilliant start, the current one day cricket series is heading south (or is it north in the southern hemisphere?). Zimbabwe have been crushed in the last three games, putting up as much of a fight as my local grade team would (South Perth).
Of course, this Zimbabwean side […] Continue Reading…

M S Lawson
What madness drives us to have holidays? Why was I dragged away from my computer games and made to sit in the sun on a beach and be semi-drowned in the surf?
As for theme park rides, why is it considered fun to wait around for perhaps more […] Continue Reading…

I’ve been reading about the transformation of the US military under pressure from ‘digitisation’, and what impresses me most about this discussion is the way actual military participants (as opposed to civilian commentators) continue to stress morale as the key factor in military success or failure. In military terms […] Continue Reading…

Merri Rose dominates today’s media coverage, as she was always going to do. The question is – who gets the advantage from this? Peter Beattie has been trying to use it for expectations management. The ABC says “he [Beattie] is still concerned that the resignation of […] Continue Reading…

The Courier Mail sprang quickly into action with a four page wrap around, but most of its coverage missed the mark. It appeared to readily accept that the “Foster-Care reforms” were the real reason for calling the election this week in an article that started with this paragraph […] Continue Reading…

I thought the fact that Lawrence Springborg had to fly down to Brisbane meant that he was taken by surprise, but today I was told that the Nationals were actually running ads on TV in the morning, so maybe not. At least one Liberal Candidate, Dr Bruce Flegg […] Continue Reading…

My life is full of essays I was going to write, and last week I was going to write an essay saying that if the Opposition couldn’t handle the Families Department Child Abuse Scandal more effectively then they had no chance of winning the state election. I didn’t […] Continue Reading…