The scenes on the TV were the sort of thing you expect from Paris, where rioters in fluoro vests clashed with police. It certainly isn’t the sort of behaviour I would associate with Melbourne, Australia. It started when construction workers turned on their own union, the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), at…
I first met Terry Pratchett’s books in a news agency at Perth airport many years ago. I was looking for a book to read on the 5 hour flight to Sydney and idly picked up a paperback with a colourful cover showing all sorts of grotesque creatures. I read the first page (as you do)…
The Queensland parliament finally passed a Voluntary Assisted Dying bill this week, the fifth of the six Australian states to do so, leaving NSW as the only state where euthanasia is not legal. People wishing to avail themselves of the process must have a diagnosis of no more than twelve months to live according to…
I’m an independent author, a writer who has decided to publish my own books instead of scrabbling to get a contract with a publishing company. I’ve published with small companies before and I’ve decided it’s not for me. I prefer to be in charge of my own destiny. There are pros and cons to going…
UPDATE: The car was eventually found a few kilometres away. A person in the neighbourhood rang the police when the car had stood on the verge for over a week. It had stolen plates and looked undamaged apart from the graffiti inside. All the contents were gone and it had been driven for about 1,000km….
We’ve all heard of genetically modified (GMO) crops and many people say the acronym in hushed tones as though it’s something awful. And sometimes it is. But maybe not always. Wilde Temptation by K.M. Fawcett takes another look at genetic modification and unintended consequences. An apple to turn people on? Much more natural than viagra…
In the past few weeks the news has been full of the US military’s withdrawal from Afghanistan and the impact of the Taliban take-over of government in that benighted country. In particular, there’s genuine fear of the impact on women and girls under strict fundamental Islamic law. Women will be forced to wear the burqa,…
It seems the Delta covid variant has crossed the Tasman to New Zealand, the result of a Kiwi going home from Sydney to Auckland. Predictably, the disease has spread rapidly and, also predictably, Jacinta Arden has locked the country down. I’m not taking cheap shots at New Zealand – well, no more than I’d take…
I had a doctor’s appointment last week. Back in the good old days (pre-covid) it was a rare opportunity to catch up on last year’s women’s magazines, although I tended to restrict myself to the cooking and gardening sections. These days there are no magazines, just a big screen telly with sub-titles. So, I take…
The ‘war’ in Afghanistan has finally coming to its predictable, shambolic close. The scenes at Kabul’s airport are reminiscent of those at the US embassy in Saigon forty-six years ago. And like most of us, my heart bleeds for the women and girls who will once again be subjected to medieval treatment at the hands…