In Loving Memory

It is an inevitable consequence of growing older that we increasingly know more people who have died! We dutifully attend funerals and endure endless eulogies. To begin with we are often introduced to the deceased by a religious person officiating at the funeral of someone who barely entered a church in their lives. This well-meaning […]

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Of Hanukkah and Hate

Western civilisation was built on the Judeo-Christian tradition. Most of us are probably more familiar with Christianity than we are with Judaism. But Judaism has a long (predating Christianity), colourful history. It is the oldest of the religions of “The Book” and the antecedent of Christianity and Islam. According to Jewish folklore, the Maccabees were […]

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What Should We Do About Immigration?

Whilst I have written on this subject before, I believe it is worthwhile revisiting the topic again because the Federal Liberal Party is currently trying to formulate a policy on immigration to take to the next election. They have just successfully compiled a policy on energy where they have (sensibly in my view) walked back […]

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A Few More Thoughts about Leadership

As you undoubtedly would know by now, the person who had the biggest influence on my career as an executive was the late Dr Pill Harker. Whilst Phil helped me understand the basic psychology of human beings, he was sometimes naïve about the politics of organisations. Nevertheless I will be eternally grateful to him for […]

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Love of All


A Parable A prince went to see a famous sage. The dissolute prince complained to the sage that despite all his wealth and privileges he was not happy. “Is there some advice you can give me, that might help me find some joy in my life?” implored the prince. “If you could learn to love […]

December 17, 2021

Sometimes We Forget


The English poet William Wordsworth wrote a poem which he titled The World is Too Much with Us. Many of us today would believe that was a very strange title for a poem. But for me that is not the case. Let me explain why, The essential part of being human is our consciousness. When […]

December 7, 2021

Why the Truth is so Elusive


It seems to me that we in the West have begun to take our democracies for granted. Most of us, particularly our younger citizens, want the freedoms our democracies provide, often abusing them, but without having invested in the maintenance of such freedoms. Only a generation or two ago many young men fought and died […]

November 24, 2021

Waking Up To Wokeness


We are being overwhelmed by the cult of “wokeness”. It has many faces but I am increasingly beguiled by the “wokeness” disciples and their strident objections to “cultural appropriation”. I am not sure I completely understand the concept, but it seems now that it is deemed wrong for anyone to depict or seek to interpret […]

November 10, 2021

Voices That Should Be Heard


The “woke” elite that run the cancel culture in Australia believe that they have the inalienable right to determine what might be put forward in debate in Australia. If this is allowed to continue only debate affirming identity politics and left wing ideals would be admitted into the public domain. Tony Abbott appears to be […]

October 24, 2021

Moving Beyond Fear


There are now glimmers of hope that we are stumbling out of the Coronavirus mire. It has been a distressing time for many Australians. Not only have we had to deal with the impacts on our health of a persistent, virulent and sometimes deadly virus, but we have also had to deal with the draconian […]

October 1, 2021

Forging a Shield to Thwart the Climate Catastrophist Hammer


  “As is the custom these days whenever weather surprises us the term ‘climate change’ is bandied around to describe the event” Steven E Koonin Unsettled President Biden has just finished a tour of districts recently impacted by Hurricane Ida in the United States. Following the tour he has made a statement to the press […]

September 16, 2021

Sleepwalking to Totalitarianism


George Orwell, author of the astonishingly prescient book 1984, in 1940 wrote: Almost certainly we are moving into an age of totalitarian dictatorships – an age in which freedom of thought will be at first a deadly sin and later on a meaningless abstraction, The autonomous individual is going to be stamped out of existence. […]

August 29, 2021

Time for Some Plain Talking Part 2 – Racism and Gender Politics


This is the second essay of two where I am trying to encourage ordinary Australians to speak up and have their say in the face of the opposition from the politically correct. I am protesting in my own little way about the restrictions that we face because of political correctness and cancel culture that contrive […]

August 15, 2021

Time for Some Plain Talking Part 1


Part 1 – Covid and Climate Change Most Australians, I fear, are reluctant to take part in the public debate on many important issues. This is because we suffer from political correctness, cancel culture and even infantilisation by the governments we have elected supposedly to represent us. As a result of these various subterfuges we […]

August 1, 2021