The Existential Threat of Radical Islamism

It is a strange quirk of the human condition that we almost universally romanticise the past. T H White captured the sentiment in his lovely book The Once and Future King. The myth of King Arthur and Camelot reflect our desire to reclaim an idealised past. As in many such myths (including the Christian one) […]

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Net Zero, Non-work and Other Nonsense.

The living standards of the average Australian citizen are falling. Per capita GDP, the measure of wealth accumulated by individual Australians has been on the decline for some years now. The government may protest that GDP is increasing but that is only because of high levels of migration. But high levels of migration mean that […]

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The Frugal Mind

Most neuroscientists believe that the cognitive capacities of our minds emanate from the neural complexity of our brains. It is often claimed that the number of neural connections in the human brain outnumber the number of stars in the known universe. The human brain is estimated to have roughly 100 to 500 trillion synapses. This vast […]

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Australia’s Renewable Energy Dilemma

Just as Anthony Albanese was touring the Great Wall of China, kowtowing to President Xi and walking away from our military alliance with the United States, Chris Bowen was in Germany seeking to bolster his case for green hydrogen and other green energy boondoggles to foist upon the long-suffering energy consumers of Australia. But the […]

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What’s So Special About Easter?


My favourite definition of religion is “a misinterpretation of mythology”. And the misinterpretation consists precisely in attributing historical references to symbols which properly are spiritual in their reference. Joseph Campbell The populace at large have little understanding of, and perhaps even less interest in, the Easter Myth. As a concession to our Christian heritage, we […]

April 15, 2017

Oh For Another Accord!


My last two blog essays have been about unions and the Labor party. This week I want to enlarge on the theme that the anti-business stance of the both the unions and the Labor party are in the end self-defeating. In the debate about the reduction in company taxes Bill Shorten has railed about reduced […]

April 8, 2017

The Future of the Union Movement


I come from a working class family. And it would be appropriate to emphasise the “class” part of that description. My father, who was a good man, had a social conscience and was always on the side of those he felt were unjustly wronged or oppressed. He was a staunch unionist and participated in local […]

April 1, 2017

Selective Civil Disobedience


Newly appointed ACTU Secretary, Sally McManus, made headlines this week by declaring that unions had the right to break “unjust” laws. Now “unjust” is quite a subjective term and one might wonder what criteria she would use to determine which laws are unjust. It takes little investigation to ascertain that her definition of unjust covers […]

March 25, 2017

Knowing Who You Really Are!


Understanding the Human Condition has probably been the prime focus of my life. The good Dr Phil has sometimes flattered me by saying that I know more about psychology than most of the psychologists he knows. (On reflection I am not sure this is a compliment to me or an insult to psychologists!) The more […]

March 18, 2017

Why Section 18C is Hindering Indigenous Advancement


Well, unfortunately, the parliamentary review into section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act has delivered its findings, but instead of showing leadership has fizzled into a hotchpotch of uncontroversial recommendations leading us to believe that our nation’s politicians are again reluctant to show leadership if there is any likelihood that they might offend minority interests. […]

March 10, 2017

Erosion of Democracy


Some would claim that the slow trajectory towards modern liberal democracy began with a very limited, faltering step which was Magna Carta, the charter agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215. Although it gave little solace to the average citizen, it began the slow erosion of the […]

February 25, 2017

The Futility of Reconciliation


As I write this essay, the annual Closing the Gap report is being presented to parliament by the Prime Minister. The report attempts to quantify progress on a number of health, education and welfare measures where indigenous Australians perform poorly compared to other Australians. As I understand it, improvements were made in only one of […]

February 18, 2017

Political Uncertainty


A failure in democratic processes seems to be affecting Western countries, causing some concern about the integrity of democracy and its ongoing capacity to produce outcomes to the satisfaction of a majority of citizens. I have written in previous essays that I had a concern that our elected representatives have lost touch with ordinary voters. […]

February 12, 2017

Climate Change and Energy Policy


I am concerned that Australia’s lost its way with respect to Climate Change and consequently its energy policy going forward. To understand my position it might be useful if I were to give you some of my history which will put some context about why I think the way I do. To begin with, contrary […]

February 4, 2017